IN  MEMORIAL 
ALEXANDER  GOLDSTEIN 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Ube  tribute  of  a  Genturg 


Colossal    Head    of   Lincoln,    by   Gutzon    Borglum 

(The  original  was  placed  by  Congress  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington.    A  bronze 
replica  may  be  seen  at  the  Chicago  Historical  Society) 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


tribute  of  a  Century 

1809=1909 


COMMEMORATIVE  OP  THE  LINCOLN  CENTENARY  AND  CONTAINING 
THE    PRINCIPAL    SPEECHES    MADE    IN    CONNECTION    THEREWITH 


EDITED  BY 

NATHAN  WILLIAM  MAcCHESNEY 


CHICAGO 

A.    C.    McCLURG  &   CO. 
1910 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY 

a    »*  *  •  '*  ."     2    ' 

A.  C.  MCCLURG  &  Co. 
•  /;.  '  1  Published   May  14,  1910 

All  rights  reserved 


PRESS  OF  THE  VAIL  COMPANY 
COSHOCTON,    U.   S.   A. 


Befcicatefc 

TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 
THE  SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

COMRADES  OF  MY  FATHER 

WHOSE  VALOR  AND  SACRIFICES  MADE  POSSIBLE 
THE    FRUITION    OF    THE  PURPOSES  OF  LINCOLN 


773.184 


FOREWORD 

THIS  book  has  grown  out  of  a  desire  which  the  editor 
had  while  Secretary  of  the  Lincoln  Centennial  Memo 
rial  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  appointed  by  the  Mayor 
of  Chicago,  for  a  memorial  volume  which  should  give  per 
manent  form  to  the  many  masterly  tributes  to  Lincoln  by 
noted  men  which  marked  this  unique  Centenary,  and  should 
preserve  to  history  the  remarkable  spirit  of  the  occasion. 

The  editor  undertook  the  work,  anticipating  that  it  would 
be  a  considerable  task,  but  with  no  real  conception  of  its 
magnitude.  There  are  in  his  library  hundreds  of  unused 
speeches  and  over  sixty  thousand  clippings  with  reference 
to  the  celebration.  It  has  been  literally  impossible  to  exam 
ine  the  entire  material  at  hand  in  the  few  months  which 
have  elapsed  since  the  Centenary,  but  the  principal  ad 
dresses  have  been  gone  through,  and  while  the  limits  of  this 
volume  have  excluded  many  of  great  value  which  it  was 
hoped  to  bring  within  the  collection,  it  is  believed  that  those 
published  are  thoroughly  representative  of  the  celebration. 

The  editor  wishes  to  give  credit  to  the  Lincoln  Centennial 
Memorial  Committee  of  Chicago,  which,  under  the  guidance  of 
Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun  as  chairman,  did  such  magnificent 
work  in  the  Centenary  celebration  and  whose  existence  and 
initiative  have  made  the  publication  of  this  book  possible. 

To  the  committees,  throughout  the  country  and  abroad, 
municipal  or  the  result  of  private  enthusiasm  and  patriotism, 
which  have  been  of  notable  aid  in  the  work  of  securing  the  de 
sired  material  for  this  volume,  grateful  acknowledgment  is  due. 

The  editor  is  indebted  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Crerar  Fund 
for  permission  to  use  the  photograph  of  the  yet  unveiled 
Saint-Gaudens  statue  of  Lincoln;  to  President  Henry  G. 
Foreman  of  the  South  Park  Commissioners  for  the  photograph 
used;  to  Adolph  Alexander  Weinman,  sculptor  of  the  Hod- 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

genville  statue  of  Lincoln,  for  a  photograph  of  the  statue  for 
use  as  an  illustration;  to  his  brother  sculptor,  John  Gutzon 
Borglum,  for  an  autograph  photograph  of  the  famous  '  *  Borg- 
lum  bust"  unveiled  in  the  Senate  February  11,  1909;  to  the 
Kt.  Hon.  Jean  Adrien  Jusserand,  the  French  Ambassador, 
for  the  loan  from  his  private  collection  of  the  photographic 
reproductions  of  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Victor  Hugo ; 
to  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln  for  the  photograph  of  the  French 
medal ;  to  Mr.  N.  Y.  Dallman,  Managing  Editor  of  The  Illinois 
State  Register  of  Springfield,  for  the  picture  of  distinguished 
guests  at  the  Lincoln  Tomb;  to  Mr.  Brainard  Platt,  Acting 
Managing  Editor  of  The  Louisville  Courier- Journal  for  his 
courteous  assistance  in  securing  photographs  of  the  presi 
dential  party  at  the  Hodgenville  celebration;  to  The  Uptown 
Kodackery  of  Denver,  for  their  prompt  courtesy  in  securing 
for  us  some  exceptionally  fine  photographs  of  the  Denver  cele 
bration  ;  to  Collier's  Weekly,  for  permission  to  use  President 
Roosevelt's  Lincoln  speech  at  Hodgenville;  to  The  Chicago 
Tribune  for  permission  to  use  the  McCutcheon  cartoons,  and 
to  reprint  Booker  T.  Washington's  "An  Ex-Slave's  Tribute 
to  Lincoln,"  and  for  other  courtesies;  to  the  other  Chicago 
newspapers,  and  the  newspapers  throughout  the  country,  and 
to  The  Literary  Digest,  Review  of  Reviews,  and  other  maga 
zines,  for  copies  of  special  issues  containing  information  im 
portant  to  the  purpose  of  this  work. 

The  editor  here  expresses  his  sense  of  obligation  to  his 
wife  for  her  help  and  suggestions,  and  to  his  friend  and 
associate,  Herbert  E.  Bradley. 

The  editor  will  be  glad  to  receive  from  readers  of  this 
book,  copies  of  any  speeches  delivered  during  the  Centenary, 
or  interesting  facts  connected  with  its  Commemoration;  and 
would  be  especially  interested  in  personal  recollections  of 
Lincoln,  or  of  Lincoln's  associates  and  time. 

NATHAN  WILLIAM  MACCHESNEY. 

UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB,  CHICAGO, 
February,  12,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION 3 

y/  The  Unity  of  the  Nation  (A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun 11 

Abraham  Lincoln:    A  Man  of  the  People 

President  Woodrow  Wilson 14 

A  Citizen  of  No  Mean  Country  (A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

Hon.   Frank  Hamlin 31 

t  The  Significance  of  Lincoln 

Hon.  J.  A.  Macdonald 33 

I/  A  Memory  of  Lincoln  (A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

Hon.  Charles  H.  Wacker 58 

Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois 

President  Edwin  Erie  Sparks 59 

The  Figure  of  an  Age  ( A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

Hon.  Stephen  S.  Gregory 76 

The  Great  Commoner 

Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch 77 

V  The  Greatest  Apostle  of  Human  Liberty   (A  Speech  of  Introduc 
tion) 

Col.  John  R.  Marshall 88 

The  Unfinished  Task  (A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

Rev.  A.  J.  Carey 89 

The  Liberation  of  the  Negro 

Rev.  J.  W.  E.  Bowen 91 

Lincoln :   The  Friend  of  All  Men 

Nathan  William  MacChesney 99 

The  Negro's  Place  in  National  Life 

Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun 102 

The  Other  Side  of  the  Question  (A  reply  to  the  Speech  of  W.  J. 
Calhoun) 

Rev.  A.  J.  Carey Ill 

The  Cathedral  Utterance  of  Lincoln 

Dr.  Charles  J.  Little 113 

The  Literary  Side  of  Lincoln 

Dr.  Bernard  J.  Cigrand 130 


CONTENTS 

THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  (continued)  PAGE 

The  Freeport  Debate 

Gen.  Smith  D.  Atkins 140 

Two  Momentous  Meetings 

Ma j. -Gen.  Frederick  Dent  Grant 143 

A  Voice  from  the  South 

Hon.  J.  M.  Dickinson 148 

Abraham  Lincoln  at  the  Bar  of  Illinois 

John  T.  Richards 154 

*  The  Evolution  of  the  Gettysburg  Address 

Hon.  John  C.  Richberg 165 

The  Merit  of  a  Mighty  Name 

Judge  W.  G.  Ewing 171 

Power  in  Loneliness 

Judge  Peter  Stenger  Grosscup 175 

THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION 183 

^      Lincoln  as  an  Orator 

Hon.  William  J.  Bryan 185 

Lincoln  as  France  saw  him 

Hon.  Jean  Adrien  Jusserand 190 

THE  ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION  .  .  .199 
The  Centenary  of  Lincoln 

Nathan  William  MacChesney 200 

Lincoln's  Preparation  for  the  Presidency 

Justice  Hand 203 

THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION 215 

v*    Lincoln  the  Statesman 

Hon.  Adlai  E.   Stevenson 216 

Lincoln  the  Lawyer,  and  his  Bloomington  Speeches 

R.  M.  Benjamin 225 

THE  PEORIA  COMMEMORATION 241 

Lincoln's  Diplomacy 

Kogoro   Takahira 242 

Lincoln,  the  Man  of  the  People    (Poem) 

Edwin  Markham 247 

THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION  ...'..  .  .251 
A  Son  of  Kentucky 

Augustus  E.  Willson 253 


CONTENTS 

THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION    (continued)  rAGE 

V  Abraham  Lincoln 

Hon.  Theodore  Roosevelt 256 

Lincoln  and  the  Lost  Cause 

Hon.  Luke  E.  Wright 261 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Leader  and  Master  of  Men 

Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson 267 

The  Lincoln  Memorial 

Hon.  Joseph  W.  Folk 271 

THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION 275 

Abraham  Lincoln  at  Cooper  Institute 

Hon.  Joseph  Hodges  Choate 277 

Lincoln  as  a  Labor  Leader 

Rev.  Lyman  Abbott 280 

One  of  the  Plain  People 

Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew 294 

THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION 315 

A  Vision  (Poem) 

Julia  Ward  Howe 317 

The  Great  Pacificator 

Hon.  John  D.  Long .  318 

Lincoln :  "Valiant  for  Truth" 

Hon.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge 343 

THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION 361 

Abraham  Lincoln — An  Appreciation 

Bishop  William  F.  McDowell 362 

THE  ROCHESTER  COMMEMORATION 375 

Lincoln :   The  True  American 

Hon.  Charles  Evans  Hughes 375 

THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION    . 385 

The  Great  Stone  Face 

President  C.  R.  Van  Hise 386 

The  Great  Debate;  or,  The  Prophet  on  the  Stump 

Hev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones 389 

THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION 417 

Abraham  Lincoln:     The  Perfect  Ruler  of  Men 

Joseph  Farrand  Tuttle,  Jr 418 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THE  WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION 433 

Lincoln  and  the  Character  of  American  Civilization 

Hon.  Joaquim  Nabuco 436 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION ,     .  441 

Preserver  of  the  Union — Saviour  of  the  Republic:     Reminiscences 

of  Abraham  Lincoln 
Major  William  H.  Lambert 442 

THE  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  COMMEMORATION     ....  461 
Abraham  Lincoln:     Master  of  Time 

Hon.  Frank  S.  Black 461 

THE  PITTSBURG  COMMEMORATION  .  471 

Lincoln:     The  Greatest  American 

Hon.  James  Schoolcraft  Sherman 472 

THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION 481 

The  Apostle  of  Opportunity 

Hon.  George  R.  Peck 481 

An  Ex-Slave's  Tribute  to  the  Emancipator 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington 492 

Lincoln  and  His  Relations  with  Congress 

Hon.  Shelby  M.  Cullom 500 

THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD 509 

Manchester,  England 511 

Berlin,  Germany 518 

Lincoln's  Hundredth  Birthday    (Poem) 

William  Morris  Davis 522 

The  Man  for  the  Hour 

Alexander  Montgomery  Thackara 524 

Paris,  France 527 

From  Washington  to  Lincoln 

Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke 527 

Rome,  Italy 

The  American  Union  and  Italy 

Hon.  Lloyd  C.   Griscom 532 

The  Man  Lincoln   (Poem) 

Wilbur  D.   Nesbit ,;    .     .  .  -•    .*..    •      -  535 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 539 

INDEX ,051 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Colossal  Head  of  Lincoln,  by  Gutzon   Borglum    .      .      .     Frontispiece 

Albums  containing  the  Newspaper  Clippings  concerning  the  Lin 
coln  Centenary,  in  the  Library  of  the  Editor xxii 

The  Lincoln  Stamp  and  Penny  and  the  Lincoln  Medal  struck  for 

the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic xxiii 

Facsimile  of  Mayor  Busse's  Proclamation 6 

The  Two  Bronze  Tablets  erected  during  the  Centenary  upon  the 

site  of  the  Old  Tremont  House 18,     19 

Bronze  Tablet  placed  on  the  Site  of  the  "Wigwam,"  Chicago,  by 

the  Chicago  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  .     34 

Republican  "Wigwam,"  in  which  Lincoln  was  nominated,   1860    .     35 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Edwin  E.  Sparks,  President 

of  the  Pennsylvania  State  College 60 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Gen.  Smith  D.  Atkins,  of 

Illinois 61 

Two  Lincoln  Centenary  Cartoons  by  John  T.  McCutcheon  ...     68 
The  Old  Tremont  House,  Chicago 69 

Firing  of  Presidential  Salute  by  the  Illinois  Naval  Reserve,  Feb. 

12,  1909,  at  the  South  End  of  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago   ...     84 

Tomb  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Chicago 85 

Bronze  Tablet  inscribed  with  the  Gettysburg  Address     .      .      .      .116 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Dr.  Charles  J.  Little,  Presi 
dent  of  Garrett  Biblical   Institute,  Chicago 117 

Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens,   1887    .   136 
Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens,  1907  .      .137 

Facsimiles  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.  John  M.  Dickinson, 

Secretary  of  War 150,  151 

Bronze  Bas-Relief  of  Lincoln,  by  C.  Pickett 186 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Portrait  of  Hon.  C.  S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois      ....  204 
Facsimile  of  Governor  Deneen's  Proclamation 205 

Facsimile   of  the  Last  Page   of   Manuscript   of    Speech   made   by 

Ambassador  Jusserand  at  Springfield 218 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.   Adlai   E.   Stevenson 

of  Illinois,  Ex-Vice-President  of  the  United  States   .      .      .      .219 

Facsimiles   of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.   Clark   E.   Carr,   of 

Galesburg,  Illinois 232,  233 

Distinguished  Guests  on  Centenary  Day  at  the  Tomb  of  Lincoln 

in  Springfield,   Illinois 244 

Thomas  Lincoln's  Home  in  Illinois,  where  he  died  in  1851   .      .      .   245 

Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  Adolph  Alexander  Weinman,  erected 
in  the  Public  Square  of  Hodgenville,  Kentucky,  by  the  State 
of  Kentucky  and  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association  ....  258 

The  Lincoln  Log  Cabin  near  Hodgenville,  Kentucky,  where  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  was  born 262 

Interior  of  Lincoln  Cabin  at  Hodgenville,  Kentucky 263 

Birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln  near  Hodgenville,  Kentucky    .      .  264 
Autographed  Portrait  of  Theodore  Roosevelt 265 

The  Hodgenville  Commemoration:  Arrival  of  President  Roose 
velt—Gathering  about  the  Lincoln  Cabin 268 

Laying  the   Corner    Stone  of  the  Lincoln   Memorial    Building   at 

Hodgenville,   Kentucky 269 

Facsimiles    of   Mrs.    Lincoln's   Letter   of   Acknowledgment   of   the 

Medal  presented  by  the  Citizens  of  France   ....      286,  287 

Facsimiles  of  Victor  Hugo's  Letter  accepting  Membership  on  the 

Committee  of  the  French  Democracy 298,  299 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  James  B.  Angell,  Presi 
dent  Emeritus  of  the  University  of  Michigan 320 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.   Henry  Cabot  Lodge, 

United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts 346 

Facsimile   of   Manuscript   Tribute    from    Rev.    Lyman   T.    Abbott, 

Editor    of    "The    Outlook" 347 

Autographed  Portrait  of  Hon.  J.  G.  Cannon 366 

The  Peterson  House,  in  which  Lincoln  died,  Washington,  D.  C.   .  367 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  President  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 

reading  his  Address  at  the  Madison  Commemoration    .      .      .   392 

Unveiling  of  the  Bronze  Replica  of  the  Statue  of  Lincoln  by 
Weinman  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Com 
mencement  Day,  1909 393 

Veterans  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  in  the  Denver  Cen 
tenary  Parade 420 

Scene  in  the  Colorado  Senate  Chamber  during  the  Lincoln  Cen 
tenary  Commemoration 426 

Scene   in   the  Denver   Auditorium   during   the   Lincoln    Centenary 

Commemoration 427 

Facsimile    of    Manuscript    Tribute    from    Senor    Joaquim    Nabuco, 

Brazilian  Ambassador  to  the  United  States 444 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Wendell  Phillips  Stafford, 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of 
Columbia 445 

Autographed  Portrait  of  President  William  H.  Taft 450 

Facsimile  of  Tribute  from  President  Taft 451 

Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke   .      .  482 

Medal  presented  to  the  Widow  of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  a  Com 
mittee  representing  Forty  Thousand  French  Citizens;  now  in 
the  Possession  of  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln 483 

The  Town  Hall  of  Manchester,   England 516 

The  American  Embassy  in  Berlin,  Germany 517 


"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:    THE  TRIBUTE 
OP  A  CENTURY" 


"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:     THE  TEIBUTE 
OF  A  CENTURY" 

NATHAN    WILLIAM    MAC  CHESNET 

A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  is  essentially  the  product  of  Amer- 
jL~V  ica.  For  that  very  reason  he  makes  a  peculiar  ap 
peal  to  the  American  people,  and,  so  far  as  American  ideas 
and  American  ideals  represent  the  aspirations  and  hopes 
of  democracy  everywhere,  he  inspires  those  who  believe  in 
these  things,  wherever  they  may  be  found. 

He  is  the  concrete  embodiment  of  the  visions  of  our  fore 
fathers  expressed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  A 
product  of  this  country  which  made  that  document  possible, 
and  which  was  made  possible  by  it,  he  saved  the  nation  from 
permanent  hypocrisy,  and  democratic  institutions  from  dis 
aster.  He  made  the  performance  of  the  nation  square  with 
its  promises,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

Lincoln,  as  the  product  of  the  typical  American  environ 
ment  of  his  period,  self-made  as  most  of  his  fellows  were, 
imbued  with  the  ideals  of  the  forefathers  and  willing  to 
fight  for  them,  was  the  personification  of  the  spirit  of  the 
nation.  Everywhere  he  attracted  men  who  were  filled  with 
a  kindred  spirit ;  and  he  is  loved  and  revered  to-day  wherever 
that  spirit  is  found.  He  is  Americanism  as  interpreted  by 
Americans. 

His  very  heredity  fitted  him  for  this  position.  Of  Southern 
ancestry  originally  from  the  North,  he  was  born  in  the  South, 
and  brought  up  among  people  of  Southern  birth;  yet  he 
lived  his  youth,  grew  to  manhood,  and  reached  his  maturity 
in  a  Northern  community.  He  knew  and  sympathized  with 
the  South  as  a  Northern  man,  born  and  bred,  could  not  have 
done;  he  grasped  the  earnestness-  and  the  temper  of  the 
North  as  it  was  impossible  for  a  Southern  man  then  to  do. 

xix 


xx  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And,  as  both  North  and  South  came  to  see,  when  he  had  been 
taken  away,  in  his  hopes  and  plans  he  represented  the  nation. 
He  was  and  is  the  great  national  figure  of  the  century.  The 
recognition  of  this  fact  has  been  growing  year  by  year  since 
the  tragic  ending  of  his  great  life.  It  is  less  than  half  a 
century  since  his  career  was  ended;  yet  to-day  he  stands 
forth  as  one  of  the  great  historical  figures  of  the  world. 
Time  makes  many  changes,  but  none  have  been  more  striking 
than  the  growth  of  appreciation  of  Lincoln  on  the  part  of 
the  South.  His  mighty  passion  was  for  the  Union  and  its 
preservation  as  the  fathers  had  given  it  to  us,  and  in  this 
love  for  the  Union  he  included  the  South  as  well  as  the 
North.  Differing  radically  from  the  South  in  his  view  of 
the  slavery  question,  and  of  the  other  vital  political  questions 
of  that  day,  he  recognized  that  he,  and  the  people  whose 
convictions  he  represented,  if  placed  in  similar  circumstances, 
would  in  all  probability  have  championed  the  views  held  by 
his  opponents.  He  had,  therefore,  only  the  kindliest  feel 
ing  for  the  South  and  for  the  problems  it  had  to  face. 

President  Koosevelt  has  recently  said  that  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  of  the  characteristics  of  Lincoln  was  "the  ex 
traordinary  way  in  which  he  could  fight  valiantly  against 
what  he  deemed  wrong,  and  yet  preserve  undiminished  his 
love  and  respect  for  the  brother  from  whom  he  differed. " 
To-day,  as  never  before,  this  is  recognized  by  the  South,  and 
we  find  its  press  and  people  saying  that  he  cared  for  the 
South  not  less  than  for  the  North;  we  find  the  Southern 
people  at  one  with  the  rest  of  the  nation  in  paying  tribute 
to  his  memory;  all  joining  as  one  people  in  his  eulogy. 
Nothing  shows  so  much  as  this  fact  how  completely  sectional 
feeling  has  been  obliterated  since  his  time. 

"Not  less  than  the  North  has  the  South  reason  to  canonize 
him,"  recently  said  Colonel  Watterson  in  his  Louisville 
Courier- Journal,  "for  he  was  the  one  friend  we  had  at  court 
— aside  from  Grant  and  Sherman — when  friends  were  most 
in  need." 

We  are  told,  too,  in  the  South,  that  his  death  was  a  calamity 


THE  TRIBUTE  OF  A  CENTURY  xxi 

to  it — "the  direst  misfortune  that  ever  darkened  the  calendar 
of  her  woes" — and  it  seems  now  to  be  generally  recognized 
that  much  of  the  bitterness  and  humiliation  of  the  recon 
struction  period  would  have  been  avoided,  had  he  lived  to 
guide  the  nation  through  those  stormy  days. 

This  attitude  of  the  South,  as  expressed  by  the  Southern 
press,  is  typically  illustrated  by  a  recent  editorial  in  The 
Post  of  Houston,  Texas: 

"All  men  stand  ready  to  concede  that  in  a  great  crisis  he  was  loyal 
to  his  convictions  of  duty,  that  he  bore  his  great  responsibilities  with 
infinite  patience,  and  that  in  all  things  he  was  free  from  sectional 
hatred  and  personal  malice. 

"The  people  of  the  South  have  always  felt  that  his  untimely  and 
tragic  end  was  one  of  the  severest  catastrophes  of  the  war  period. 
They  believed  after  the  capitulation  at  Appomattox,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
would,  in  his  second  administration,  bend  all  his  energies  toward 
reconciliation  and  binding  up  the  wounds  of  war.  All  his  utter 
ances  respecting  the  South  were  broadly  patriotic,  sympathetic,  and 
expressive  of  a  desire  to  restore  peace,  prosperity,  and  self-govern 
ment.  He  sounded  no  note  of  exultation  or  vindictiveness  over  a 
prostrate  country.  He  seemed  to  comprehend  the  woe  and  hardship 
which  rested  so  heavily  on  every  portion  of  our  devastated  domain, 
and  he  evinced  a  determination  to  resist  the  efforts  of  those  who 
were  anxious  to  put  the  people  under  the  heel  of  the  conqueror.  It 
was  no  fault  of  his  that  the  South,  crushed  and  bleeding,  was  sub 
jected  to  the  brutalities  and  vandalism  of  reconstruction.  We  know 
now  that  when  he  fell,  the  barrier  that  protected  us  from  that  reign 
of  terror  was  swept  away;  we  know  that  if  he  had  lived  we  should 
have  been  spared  the  multiplied  sorrows  which  were  visited  upon 
us.  ...  In  the  Republic's  oneness,  the  Americans  of  all  sections 
shared  in  the  heritage  he  bequeathed  to  the  nation,  and  Americans  of 
all  sections  honor  and  revere  his  memory." 

The  South  does  not  forget  that  Lincoln  was  a  Southerner 
by  birth,  transplanted  to  the  soil  of  the  West.  She  takes 
pride  in  him  as  the  son  of  the  South.  There  is  not  throughout 
the  South  that  deep  affection  for  Lincoln  which  is  every 
where  evidenced  in  the  North;  but  there  is  a  very  real  ap 
preciation  and  a  profound  respect.  Here  and  there  dis 
cordant  notes  and  utterances  are  sounded  in  the  Southern 
press,  but  their  very  rarity  marks  them  as  anachronisms  of 


xxii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

a  bygone  day,  which  have  long  since  ceased  to  represent  the 
true  sentiments  of  this  great  section  of  our  common  country. 
Not  only,  then,  has  Lincoln  come  to  be  a  truly  national  figure 
and  to  represent,  in  his  hopes  and  ideals  for  America  and 
American  institutions,  the  North  and  South,  the  East  and 
"West,  alike,  but  wherever  thoughtful  men  or  hopeful  men 
turn  to  American  institutions  as  the  hope  of  democracy,  he 
stands  forth  as  the  heroic  figure  on  the  horizon  of  time. 

Abraham  Lincoln  holds  this  place  to-day  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  all  his  countrymen  and  men  of  similar  aspirations 
everywhere,  not  alone  because  of  his  public  utterances,  his 
keen  insight  into  the  problems  of  a  democratic  State,  his 
emancipation  of  millions  of  slaves,  his  even-handed  justice  to 
friend  and  foe  alike,  or  any  one  or  all  of  the  things  that  go 
to  make  up  his  public  career,  but  also  because  of  his  per 
sonality  and  life  history.  In  his  own  day  there  were  those 
who  sneered  because  his  training  and  manner  were  not  con 
ventional.  These  very  facts,  and  the  opposition  which  they 
caused,  endeared  him  to  the  people  as  a  whole,  for  they  repre 
sented  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  aspirations  and  hopes, 
their  ideals  and  beliefs,  their  struggles  for  self-expression  in 
all  the  varied  activities  of  life. 

It  is  sometimes  commented  upon  as  remarkable  that  a  man 
like  Lincoln  should  have  risen  from  conditions  such  as  marked 
his  youth  and  early  career.  Americans  then,  and  Americans 
now,  have  been  among  those  who  raise  the  question.  It  may 
be  excusable  for  men  brought  up  in  other  civilizations,  to 
wonder  at  the  possibility,  but  for  an  American  to  do  so  is 
to  doubt  his  own  institutions,  and  to  question  the  power  of 
democracy.  It  is  out  of  such  conditions,  modified  from  decade 
to  decade  in  accordance  with  the  development  of  the  country, 
away  from  the  deadening  level  of  the  schools  and  the  crush 
ing  conventionality  of  a  settled  society  in  our  great  cities, 
that  we  are  most  apt  to  draw  our  truly  great  men. 

Lincoln  had  a  fine  mind  and  a  splendid  physique,  both 
developed  to  great  perfection.  He  was  a  natural  student, 
trained  largely  by  his  contact  with  men,  but  not  neglecting 
every  opportunity  to  master  the  books  that  he  had  at  hand, 


s 


The   Lincoln   Stamp   and   Penny 


The   Lincoln   Medal  Struck  for   the   Grand   Army 
of  the   Republic 
(See  page  xxv) 


THE  TRIBUTE  OF  A  CENTURY 

He  struggled  for  what  he  attained,  but  the  result  was  a 
mastership  of  English  style — two  or  three  of  his  utterances 
rank  with  the  finest  in  the  world — a  statesmanship  as  wide 
as  the  problem  of  the  nation  itself,  a  humanity  as  broad  as 
the  needs  of  men. 

The  feeling  about  Lincoln  being  what  it  is,  it  is  not  sur 
prising  that,  with  the  approach  of  the  Centenary  of  his  birth, 
the  suitable  celebration  of  it  began  to  be  agitated  throughout 
the  country — not  alone  by  the  people  who  knew  him,  or  the 
thousands  still  living  who  had  come  in  contact  with  him, 
hazarded  property  or  life  or  loved  ones  to  sustain  him,  or 
come  to  recognize  him  as  their  far-seeing  friend  in  the  time 
of  stress  and  trouble — but  even  more  by  the  millions  who 
had  been  brought  up  under  the  inspiration  of  his  memory 
and  with  reverence  for  his  name. 

Centenary  celebrations  are  not  altogether  unusual,  but  are 
generally  of  great  national  events.  Never  before  did  a  whole 
people  approach  the  centenary  of  the  birth  of  a  man  with 
such  interest  and  unanimity,  or  carry  out  its  celebration  with 
such  enthusiasm.  It  was  the  spontaneous  tribute  of  the  na 
tion  to  him  who  had  justified  its  existence,  given  vitality  to 
its  utterances,  preserved  it  for  its  destinies,  and  given  promise 
of  its  future. 

It  is  hard  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  Centenary  celebration. 
Plans  for  it  seemed  to  spring  into  existence  simultaneously 
in  various  parts  of  the  country :  in  the  action  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States ;  in  the  appointment  of  State  commissions, 
by  the  Governors  of  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  to  represent 
their  States  in  the  preparation  for  the  national  celebration  at 
the  Lincoln  Farm ;  and — to  stimulate  celebrations  within  their 
own  States — in  the  organization  of  municipal  celebrations; 
and  the  activities  of  various  associations  and  patriotic  so 
cieties. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  paid  tribute  to  the  day 
by  the  adoption,  by  its  Executive  Council,  as  part  of  its  Report 
for  the  Denver  Convention,  the  following  recommendation, 
written  by  Samuel  Gompers,  President  of  the  Federation : 


xxiv  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"On  Friday,  the  twelfth  of  February,  1909,  will  occur  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  all  the 
history  of  our  .Republic,  no  man  lived  who,  in  himself  and  in  his  work, 
more  completely  embodied  and  typified  the  ennobling  aspirations  and 
ideals  of  human  justice  and  human  freedom.  No  man  ever  loved  his 
fellow  men  more  than  he.  None  had  a  better  knowledge  of,  or  a 
deeper  sympathy  with,  the  struggles  and  hopes  of  the  toilers. 

"We  were  asked,  and  gladly  gave,  our  support  to  a  movement  to  make 
of  his  birthplace  a  perpetual  Mecca  of  all  who  loved  liberty  and  hu 
manity.  It  is  expected  that  a  country-wide,  fitting  celebration  be  had 
upon  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Lincoln's  birth.  The  celebration  is 
yet  in  indefinite  form. 

"We  recommend  that  Friday,  February  12,  1909,  the  centennial 
of  the  birth  of  the  revered  and  martyred  Lincoln,  wherever  possible,  be 
made  a  holiday  by  all  labor. 

"That  we  urge  upon  Congress  and  the  several  States  that  that  day  be 
declared  a  legal  holiday. 

"That  the  officers  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  be  authorized 
to  be  duly  represented  in  any  national  celebration  which  may  be  in 
augurated,  or  which  they  may  initiate,  so  that  the  day,  and  the  mem 
ory  of  the  advent  and  services  of  this  great  and  good  man,  may  be 
fittingly  observed  and  impressed  upon  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
our  people." 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  Kepublic  issued,  through  its 
national  Commander,  a  formal  Proclamation  to  all  its  Posts, 
requesting  ''that  every  Post  recognize  the  day  in  some  fitting 
manner,  either  in  special  meeting,  or  in  attendance,  as  a  body, 
where  a  public  celebration  was  held. ' '  The  Proclamation  also 
urged  united  observances  of  the  day,  where  there  was  more 
than  one  Post  in  a  city,  and  the  invitation  of  other  patriotic 
societies  to  participate  in  all  functions  arranged  for  this  oc 
casion.  The  organization,  naturally,  had  a  large  part  in  the 
national  commemoration  of  the  Centenary,  and  its  every  Post, 
throughout  the  country,  actively  participated,  often  initiating 
the  local  celebrations,  always  taking  part  in  them,  and  always 
the  honored  guests  of  the  general  committees  where  organized. 
In  this  celebration,  they  were  joined  many  times  by  their 
brethren  of  the  South,  who  wore  the  grey,  and  whose  valor 
and  sacrifices,  although  rendered  to  the  Lost  Cause,  con 
tribute  so  much  to  the  glory  of  the  Union  to  which  Lincoln  was 
martyr. 


THE  TRIBUTE  OF  A  CENTURY  xxv 

Throughout  the  Centennial,  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line — 
long  obliterated — was  forgotten,  and  the  singing  of  " Dixie" 
was  received  with  enthusiasm  in  Northern  church,  and  school, 
and  meeting,  while  Lincoln  was  lauded  in  the  South.  A 
joint  memorial  service  of  this  kind,  typical  of  the  spirit  of 
the  occasion,  was  arranged  by  the  Union  and  Confederate 
veterans  in  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

A  movement  which  found  its  origin  and  inspiration  in 
New  York  City,  under  the  direction  of  the  Lincoln  Centennial 
Endowment  Committee,  was  for  the  purpose  of  raising  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  endowment  for  Lincoln  Memorial 
University.  This  committee  had,  as  President,  Frederick  T. 
Martin,  and  as  Secretary,  Major-General  Oliver  Otis  Howard, 
who  gave  much  of  his  time  to  the  promotion  of  this  great 
enterprise,  and  made  an  effective  campaign  for  subscriptions. 
It  is  desired  to  have  a  living  memorial  to  Lincoln  in  this 
University  for  the  people  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  Cumberland 
Mountains.  It  is  located  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountain  at 
Cumberland  Gap,  with  magnificent  grounds,  including  fertile 
lowland  fields  and  sloping  pastures  offering  a  field  for  work 
to  the  students  and  producing  supplies  for  their  use. 

The  country  at  large  was  much  interested  in  the  general 
plans  of  Congress  for  a  permanent  memorial,  and,  although 
none  of  them  have  yet  taken  tangible  form,  it  is  hoped  that 
before  long  some  of  these  will  be  realized.  Among  the  me 
morials  discussed,  was  a  Lincoln  road,  or  highway,  from  Wash 
ington  to  Gettysburg,  and  a  memorial  building  to  be  erected 
between  the  Capitol  and  the  new  Union  Railway  Station  in 
Washington.  The  latter  plan  was  strongly  supported  in 
Congress.  The  general  plan  of  a  memorial  which  is  recom 
mended  by  the  American  Institute  of  Architects,  is  in  accord 
ance  with  designs  prepared  under  the  direction  of  a  com 
mission  consisting  of  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  Charles  F.  Mc- 
Kim,  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens,  and  Frederick  Law  Olm- 
stead,  Jr.,  which  provide  for  a  treatment  of  the  Mall,  from 
the  base  of  the  Capitol,  past  the  Washington  monument,  to 
a  memorial  bridge,  commemorating  American  valor,  which 
shall  lead  directly  across  the  Potomac  to  Arlington.  Near 


xxvi  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  end  of  this  bridge,  the  commission  proposed  that  a  Lincoln 
memorial  be  erected,  which  should  have  a  character  dis 
tinctively  its  own — one  suggestion  being  that  of  a  great 
portico  of  Doric  columns.  This  plan  had  the  support  of 
President  Koosevelt. 

The  question  of  a  permanent  Lincoln  museum  was  also 
discussed,  and  in  order  that  the  priceless  collections  of  Lin 
coln  relics  now  in  private  hands  may  some  time  be  brought 
together  as  the  property  of  the  government,  it  is  hoped  that 
such  a  plan  may  be  realized.  When  that  time  comes,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  great  Gunther  Lincoln  collection,  now 
stored  in  Chicago,  may  become  thus  once  more  available  to 
the  public,  unless  Chicago  itself  shall  have  sooner  provided 
a  suitable  building  for  its  preservation  and  display. 

In  the  meantime,  while  these  plans  for  a  great  national 
memorial  were  being  canvassed  and  discussed  in  and  out  of 
Congress,  and  through  the  press  of  the  country — cities,  towns, 
and  villages  all  over  the  United  States,  colleges,  universities, 
schools,  churches,  fraternal  organizations,  and  private  citi 
zens  were  dedicating  permanent  memorials  of  their  own,  not 
so  pretentious  as  the  vast  projects  proposed  in  Congress,  but 
equally  commemorative  of  the  Man  they  had  thought  so  to 
honor,  and  perhaps  even  more  vital  in  influence  by  reason  of 
being  set  in  the  busy  ways  of  town  and  market  place,  where 
the  people  go  about  their  daily  tasks. 

Hundreds  of  memorial  tablets  were  placed  on  walls  and 
buildings;  monuments  were  dedicated;  busts  of  Lincoln 
placed  in  public  halls,  schools,  libraries,  and  other  places  of 
congregation;  new  municipal  parks  named  for  Lincoln  and 
thrown  open  to  the  public;  while  many  of  the  sites  where 
Lincoln  once  made  history,  were  permanently  marked,  for 
the  information  of  future  generations,  by  tablets  commemo 
rating  his  connection  with  the  events  which  had  there  taken 
place. 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  had  struck  off,  at  the 
United  States  Mint  at  Philadelphia,  a  Lincoln  Centenary 
medal  in  bronze,  as  "an  everlasting  token  of  respect  to  the 
Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Union  Army  and  Navy  of  the 


THE  TRIBUTE  OF  A  CENTURY  xxvii 

Civil  War,  and  an  heirloom  to  be  handed  down  from  genera 
tion  to  generation  as  a  tribute  to  the  loyalty  of  those  who 
served  under  his  command. " 

The  government,  in  commemoration  of  the  Centenary,  issued 
a  Memorial  stamp  and  a  Memorial  penny.  The  postage  stamp 
was  a  two-cent  one,  of  the  size  and  color  of  the  regular  two- 
cent  stamp,  and  bore  a  profile  of  Lincoln,  facing  to  the  right, 
with  the  inscriptions:  "U.  S.  Postage,"  and  "1809— Feb.  12— 
1909,"  "Two  Cents."  The  penny,  on  its  obverse  side,  bears 
a  profile  relief  of  Lincoln  facing  the  right,  with  the  inscrip 
tions:  "In  God  we  Trust,"  "Liberty,"  "1909,"  while  on  the 
reverse  side  are  the  words,  "E  Pluribus  Unum,"  "One  Cent," 
*  *  United  States  of  America. ' '  When  the  distribution  of  these 
coins  was  made  at  the  sub-treasuries,  hundreds  of  people  stood 
for  hours  in  line  for  the  opportunity  of  buying  them,  and 
soon  they  were  sold  at  a  premium  on  the  street. 

The  universal  interest  in  the  celebration  of  the  Centenary 
is  perhaps  most  clearly  evidenced  by  the  newspaper  comment 
upon  the  life  and  services  of  Lincoln,  and  the  celebrations 
of  the  week.  The  collection  of  clippings  gathered  for  Chi 
cago's  Committee  of  One  Hundred  during  the  celebration, 
numbers  over  sixty  thousand  separate  items,  and  fills 
more  than  thirty  volumes  the  size  of  the  "Encyclopedia 
Britannica."  These  clippings  are  an  inexhaustible  mine  of 
anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  Lincoln  which  could  never 
again  be  duplicated.  Many  of  them  have  been  included,  of 
course,  in  works  already  published,  but  others  are  new  and 
of  vital  interest.  Some  day  it  is  hoped  that  this  new  ma 
terial  may  be  made  available  for  the  lovers  of  Lincoln,  through 
the  historical  societies  or  otherwise.  The  newspapers  of  the 
country  printed  Centennial  editions,  reviewing  Lincoln's  life, 
character,  and  the  times  which  gave  him  birth ;  bringing  into 
the  least-lettered  homes  of  the  land  intimate  knowledge,  not 
only  of  the  sad,  patient,  kindly,  wonderful  man  who  held  the 
nation  intact,  against  all  pressure  from  within  and  without, 
but  of  the  conditions  which  confronted  him — of  the  inner  his 
tory  of  the  Civil  War,  and  what  preceded  and  came  after. 

It  has  been  my  plan  here  to  give  a  brief  indication  of  the 


xxviii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

marvellous  interest  expressed  in  the  Centenary  by  the  people 
of  our  country,  and  to  preserve  in  permanent  form  some,  at 
least,  of  the  best  addresses  delivered  on  that  occasion.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  perusal  of  these  addresses  may  kindle  anew 
the  already  wide  interest  in  the  life  and  works  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and,  by  showing  the  uniqueness  of  his  place  in  the 
life  of  the  nation,  cause  many  who  have  never  been  so  before, 
to  become  students  of  the  life,  words,  character,  and  achieve 
ments  of  the  most  typical  of  all  Americans.  The  tribute  of 
a  century,  paid  to  him  within  the  lifetime  of  his  contempo 
raries,  shows  that  Lincoln  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his  country 
men,  immortal. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

THE  TRIBUTE  OF  A  CENTURY 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION 

OF  the  hundreds  of  celebrations  held  throughout  the  land 
in  commemoration  of  Lincoln's  Centenary,  the  Chicago 
commemoration  was  one  of  the  largest,  most  enthusiastic,  and 
the  broadest  in  conception  of  any  in  the  country.  The  inti 
mate  relation  of  Chicago  to  the  career  of  Lincoln  made  this 
commemoration  one  of  national  interest. 

The  Chicago  Commemoration  was  initiated  by  a  Resolution 
introduced  by  Alderman  Albert  J.  Fisher  in  the  City  Council, 
which  provided  for  an  official  committee  to  be  appointed  by 
the  Mayor.  Acting  upon  this  resolution,  Honorable  Fred  A. 
Busse,  Mayor  of  Chicago,  appointed  the  Lincoln  Centennial 
Memorial  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  which  organized  with 
Honorable  William  J.  Calhoun  as  Chairman,  and  Nathan 
William  MacChesney  as  Secretary.  The  Committee  was  a 
thoroughly  representative  one,  and  great  enthusiasm  was  shown 
for  the  work  it  was  to  undertake.  It  was  divided  into  various 
sub-committees — a  Committee  on  Speakers,  Halls,  and  Schools, 
under  the  direction  of  Edgar  A.  Bancroft,  Esq. ;  a  Committee 
on  Military  Participation,  with  Colonel  Joseph  Rosenbaum 
as  Chairman;  a  Committee  on  Music,  Art,  and  Decorations, 
Alexander  H.  Revell,  Chairman ;  a  Publicity  Committee,  with 
T.  Edward  Wilder  and  Joseph  Basch  as  Chairmen,  and  Shailer 
Mathews  as  Vice-Chairman ;  a  Committee  on  Church  and  In 
stitutional  Observance,  Hon.  C.  C.  Kohlsaat,  Chairman;  a 
Finance  Committee,  Arthur  Meeker,  Chairman;  and  a  Com 
mittee  on  Conference  and  Unification  of  Celebration,  with 
Frank  Hamlin,  Esq.,  as  Chairman. 

3 


4  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

.  V  ii/IU 

These,  together  with  the  other  committees,  mapped  out  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  the  celebration.  Resolutions  were 
passed  by  the  Board  of  Cook  County  Commissioners,  and  a 
Proclamation  was  issued  by  the  Mayor  and  posted  throughout 
the  city,  calling  attention  to  the  Lincoln  celebration,  and  urg 
ing  upon  the  people  a  study  of  the  life  and  words  of  Lincoln. 

The  plans  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  provided  for 
an  entire  Lincoln  week  to  be  given  to  the  commemoration  of 
the  Centenary,  starting  with  exercises  in  the  churches  of  the 
city  on  Sunday  evening,  February  7,  and  continuing  through 
out  the  week;  with  readings  from  the  life  and  speeches  of 
Lincoln  in  the  schools  of  the  city  for  three  or  four  days  pre 
ceding  Friday,  February  12,  and  with  public  exercises  in  the 
class-rooms  of  all  the  public  and  parochial  schools  on  Thurs 
day,  February  11.  The  celebration  was  planned  to  be  educa 
tional  in  its  scope,  and  included  meetings  not  only  in  all  of  the 
public,  parochial,  and  private  schools  of  the  city,  but  in  other 
educational  institutions,  and  in  public  and  private  libraries. 
Speakers  were  furnished  for  these  meetings  under  the  direc 
tion  of  the  general  Committee ;  and  the  fraternal  organiza 
tions,  and  various  societies  and  clubs  of  the  city,  were  stimu 
lated  to  hold  meetings  of  their  own,  with  the  result  that  there 
were  held  during  the  week  considerably  over  a  thousand  meet 
ings  with  which  the  Committee  came  in  touch.  A  more  re 
markable  example  of  the  interest  taken  could  not  have  been 
given. 

The  five  largest  meetings  of  the  day — at  the  Auditorium, 
on  the  morning  of  the  Centenary ;  at  the  Seventh  Regiment 
Armory,  on  the  afternoon  and  evening;  at  the  Second  Regi 
ment  Armory  and  at  Battery  B  Armory,  in  the  afternoon — 
were  held  directly  under  the  auspices  of  the  Committee  of  One 
Hundred,  and  were  presided  over  by  the  Committee  through 
its  designated  representatives. 

Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  Princeton  University,  spoke 
at  the  Auditorium  meeting,  in  the  forenoon  of  February  12 — 
a  meeting  which  was  remarkable  in  many  respects,  and  pre 
sided  over  by  Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun,  Chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  One  Hundred,  who  made,  of  course,  the  speech  of 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  5 

introduction.  The  hall  itself  has  been  the  scene  of  many  great 
addresses,  and  many  interesting  civic  events,  in  Chicago,  start 
ing  with  the  nomination  of  President  Harrison  in  1888.  It 
seats  about  forty-five  hundred  people,  but  the  application  for 
seats  exceeded  the  capacity  some  two  or  three  times.  Sec 
tions  were  reserved  for  the  City  Council,  the  County  Com 
missioners,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Women's 
Relief  Corps,  the  various  patriotic  societies,  the  Consular  Corps 
of  Chicago,  and  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  which  at 
tended  in  a  body.  The  boxes  were  occupied  by  the  various 
officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  of  the  Illinois  National 
Guard;  and  by  representatives  of  the  Legislature,  the  Su 
preme  Court,  and  the  Executive  branch  of  the  Government. 
The  setting  was  perfect  for  a  great  meeting,  and  the  speaker 
rose  to  the  occasion,  carrying  his  audience  with  him  in  waves 
of  enthusiasm.  "When  Chairman  Calhoun  requested  that  the 
veterans  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  be  allowed  to 
march  out  prior  to  the  dismissal  of  the  meeting — which  they 
did,  carrying  their  banners  and  flags,  and  dipping  their  colors 
as  they  passed  in  review  before  General  Grant,  the  son  of 
their  old  commander — there  was  scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  the 
house. 

At  the  meeting  in  the  Seventh  Regiment  Armory,  on  the 
afternoon  of  February  12,  over  three  thousand  people  lis 
tened  to  the  inspiring  speech  of  Hon.  J.  A.  Macdonald,  editor 
of  The  Toronto  Globe,  receiving  its  masterly  periods  with 
rounds  of  applause.  The  meeting  was  appropriately  pre 
sided  over,  and  the  speech  of  introduction  made,  by  Hon. 
Frank  Hamlin,  a  son  of  Hannibal  Hamlin,  Vice-President 
under  Lincoln. 

No  less  enthusiastic  was  the  appreciation  accorded  Edwin 
Erie  Sparks,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  College, 
who  spoke  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twelfth,  in  Battery  B 
Armory,  under  the  auspices  of  the  First  Cavalry  and  Bat 
tery  B,  Illinois  National  Guard.  Hon.  Charles  H.  Wacker 
was  Chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  introduced  the  speaker. 
President  Sparks  was  formerly  Professor  of  American  His 
tory  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  has  edited  an  edition 


6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  "The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates"  for  the  Illinois  Historical 
Society. 

Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch,  Minister  of  Sinai  Congregation, 
Chicago,  and  Professor  of  Rabbinical  Literature  and  Philos 
ophy  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  gave  an  eloquent  address 
to  an  overflowing  and  appreciative  audience  at  the  Second 
Regiment  Armory,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Second  Infantry, 
Illinois  National  Guard.  He  was  introduced  by  Hon.  Stephen 
S.  Gregory,  who  acted  as  Chairman. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  meeting  of  the  week  was  that 
held  for  the  colored  people  on  the  evening  of  the  twelfth,  in 
the  Seventh  Regiment  Armory  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Eighth  Infantry  (colored),  Illinois  National  Guard,  and  the 
Colored  Citizens'  Committee.  Ten  or  twelve  thousand  col 
ored  people  gathered  there  to  celebrate  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  their  emancipator.  Although  the 
meeting  was  set  for  eight  o'clock,  the  people  began  to  arrive 
in  the  afternoon,  and,  long  before  the  hour  set,  the  crowds 
were  massed  in  the  street.  Colonel  'John  R.  Marshall,  of  the 
Eighth  Infantry,  made  a  short  speech  as  Chairman  pro  tern., 
followed  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Carey,  who  made  the  speech  of  intro 
duction.  The  three  other  speakers  at  this  meeting  were  the 
Rev.  J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  President  of  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary,  Atlanta,  Georgia;  the  Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun, 
President  of  the  Lincoln  Memorial  Committee  of  One  Hun 
dred,  and  now  Ambassador  to  China;  and  Nathan  William 
MacChesney,  Secretary  of  the  Lincoln  Memorial  Committee, 
present  to  extend  the  greetings  of  the  City  of  Chicago  to  its 
colored  citizens.  The  meeting  was  a  most  unusual  one,  and 
perhaps  nowhere  in  the  limits  of  the  city  was  the  Lincoln 
Centenary  observed  with  such  feeling,  such  enthusiasm,  such 
exaltation  and  homage. 

In  addition  to  this  meeting,  there  were  hundreds  of  others 
throughout  the  city,  of  vivid  interest  and  far-reaching  influ 
ence. 

Dr.  Charles  J.  Little,  President  of  Garrett  Biblical  Insti 
tute,  spoke  at  the  Northwestern  University  Building,  which 
stands  upon  the  site  of  the  old  Tremont  House.  From  the 


IN  THE  NAME  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO 
A  PROCLAMATION. 

WHEREAS,  February  12,  1909,  is  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN;  and 

WHKREAS,  There  is  a  universal  desire  that  on  that  day  his 
memory  should  be  honored  by  the  nation  which  he  helped  preserve,  and 
especially  by  that  State  in  which  he  lived; 

NOW  THEREFORE,  I,  Fred  A.  Busse ,  Mayor  oi'  the  City  of  Chicago, 
by  virtue  of  a  reeolution  passed  by  the  Honorable,  the  City  Council  of 
Chicago,  do  hereby  proclaim  the  week  February  7-14,  1909,  the 
LINCOLN  CENTENNIAL  WEEK, 

In  order  that  this  anniversary  shall  be  appropriately  observed, 
I  do  most  earnestly  urge  the  citizens  of  Chicago  to  dedicate  that  week 
to  the  study  of  the  life  and  words  of  President  Lincoln. 

In  particular  do  I  call  upon  the  citizens  of  Chicago  to  assemble 
on  February  12th  in  such  places  as  shall  be  designated,  to  celebrate 
Lincoln's  character,  sacrifice  and  service  to  the  Republic,  to  the  end 
that  a  deepened  sense  oi  his  loyalty  to  the  Constitution,  of  his  faith 
in  the  principles  of  democracy,  and  of  his  devotion  to  moral  ideals 
s'hall  inspire  anew  our  own  civic  life. 


%*«& 


MAYOR. 


Facsimile  of  Mayor  Basse's   Proclamation 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  7 

balcony  of  this  old  hotel,  Lincoln  delivered  his  first  reply  to 
Douglas;  and  it  was  here  that  the  Lincoln  delegation  had  its 
headquarters,  and  did  the  tireless  planning  which  resulted  in 
his  nomination.  It  was  here,  too,  that  Vice-President  Hamlin 
first  met  Lincoln,  on  November  twenty-third,  1860,  in  response 
to  a  letter  from  him,  after  their  election.  In  the  Northwestern 
University  Law  School,  located  in  this  building,  the  General 
Committee  held  most  of  its  meetings. 

The  President  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library  Board,  Bernard 
U.  Cigrand,  spoke  at  a  meeting  held  at  Memorial  Hall,  Chicago 
Public  Library  Building.  It  was  through  his  untiring  efforts 
as  a  member  of  the  general  Committee,  that  meetings  were 
held  in  practically  every  public  and  private  library  of  Chicago. 

In  addition  to  these  meetings,  the  Illinois  Naval  Reserves 
marched  through  the  streets  to  Lincoln  Park,  where  the  statue 
of  Lincoln  by  Saint-Gaudens  is  located ;  and,  at  twelve  o  'clock, 
noon,  a  presidential  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  was  fired,  in 
the  presence  of  a  great  throng  of  school  children,  who  sang 
patriotic  songs. 

No  banquet  was  included  in  the  programme  of  the  general 
Committee,  but  many  dinners  were  given  in  honor  of  the 
Centenary.  The  leading  one,  on  the  Centennial  day  itself,  was 
that  under  the  auspices  of  the  Industrial  Club  in  the  "gold 
room"  of  the  Congress  Hotel.  Mason  B.  Starring,  President 
of  the  Club,  acted  as  toastmaster.  Among  those  who  re 
sponded  to  toasts  with  brief  speeches  in  honor  of  Lincoln,  were 
Maj.-Gen.  Frederick  Dent  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  son  of  Gen. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  who  carried  out,  in  the  field,  the  policies 
Lincoln  planned  in  the  White  House,  proving  the  strongest 
bulwark  of  the  administration ;  and  Gen.  Smith  D.  Atkins,  the 
editor  of  The  Freeport  Daily  Journal,  and  a  contemporary 
and  personal  acquaintance  of  Lincoln. 

The  Chicago  Bar  Association  gave  a  banquet  in  honor  of 
the  Centenary,  on  the  preceding  evening,  at  which  there  were 
a  number  of  speakers  who  gave  personal  reminiscences  of 
Lincoln.  Three  of  the  important  speeches  of  the  evening  were 
delivered  by  Hon.  John  C.  Richberg,  John  T.  Richards,  Esq., 
and  Hon.  William  G.  Ewing,  fellow-members  of  the  Illinois 


8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

bar.  The  speeches  given  are  included  in  this  volume  because 
it  is  believed  they  give  interesting  material  on  a  side  of  Lin 
coln  which  has  only  recentty  come  to  be  appreciated.  It  should 
not  be  forgotten,  either,  that  if  the  ideals  of  Lincoln  are  to  be 
preserved  for  our  children,  they  will  only  be  continued  through 
the  thought  and  vision  of  the  American  bar  of  to-day. 

At  a  luncheon  of  The  Irish  Fellowship  Club  during  Lincoln 
week,  an  impressive  speech  was  delivered  by  Judge  Peter  Sten- 
ger  Grosscup,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals. 
The  statue  of  Lincoln  by  Saint-Gaudens,  to  which  Judge  Gross- 
cup  refers,  is  a  sitting  figure,  and  has  been  procured  by  the 
Crerar  Fund  Trustees,  of  whom  'Judge  Grosscup  is  one,  to  be 
placed  in  Grant  Park,  Chicago. 

The  Abraham  Lincoln  Center,  a  community  house,  held  a 
celebration,  lasting  throughout  the  week,  under  the  direction 
of  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones.  Here  was  exhibited  the  famous 
Fay  collection  of  pictures  of  Lincoln,  numbering  more  than 
one  thousand  portraits. 

One  of  the  most  unique  meetings  of  the  week  was  that  held 
on  the  evening  of  the  Centenary  at  Dexter  Park  Pavilion, 
with  Arthur  Meeker  as  Chairman,  to  whose  unstinted  efforts 
and  able  generalship  is  due  the  unusual  interest  it  created. 
It  was  a  great  patriotic  song  meeting,  with  a  chorus  of  a  thou 
sand  voices,  and  orchestra,  leading  the  great  audience  in  the 
singing  of  the  patriotic  songs  of  the  country.  One  of  the 
features  of  the  evening  was  an  illustrated  lecture  by  Rev. 
Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones.  More  than  fifteen  thousand  people 
crowded  into  the  building  to  hear  and  join  in  the  exercises,  and 
as  many  more  were  turned  away  from  the  doors,  the  building 
being  packed  to  suffocation. 

At  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  on  Friday  evening,  Feb 
ruary  12,  Col.  Clark  E.  Carr,  of  Galesburg,  Illinois,  delegate 
to  the  Dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery  at  Gettysburg,  in 
1863,  delivered  an  address  on  " Lincoln  at  Gettysburg";  while 
during  the  entire  Centenary  week,  the  Society  exhibited  a  spe 
cial  collection  of  Lincolniana,  consisting  of  original  manu 
scripts,  portraits,  and  relics,  which  the  public  was  cordially 
invited  to  view. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  9 

Countless  other  meetings  were  held  during  Centenary  week, 
under  the  auspices  of  similar  societies,  of  fraternal  organiza 
tions,  and  through  private  initiative;  and  of  the  many  meet 
ings  thus  held  in  the  city  during  Lincoln  week,  more  than  one 
thousand  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  work  of  the  Committee  of 
One  Hundred. 

Ceremonies  in  the  Jewish  churches  of  the  city  were  held  on 
Saturday  morning,  February  13,  and  at  the  various  residential 
clubs  in  the  evening.  The  week's  celebration  closed  on  Sun 
day,  February  14,  with  the  churches  of  the  city,  of  all  de 
nominations,  devoting  the  morning  services  to  ceremonies  and 
sermons  commemorative  of  the  life  of  Lincoln. 

The  Committee  secured  a  very  general  interest  in  the  decora 
tion  of  the  city ;  the  streets,  every  public  building,  and  all  of 
the  important  private  buildings  were  appropriately  and  beau 
tifully  decorated.  Of  the  nearly  forty  thousand  business 
houses  in  Chicago  having  show  windows  for  display,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  few,  if  any,  were  without  some  tokens  of  the  sig 
nificance  of  the  week.  The  Proclamation  issued  by  the  Mayor 
was  posted  everywhere,  on  the  streets,  in  the  show  windows, 
and  in  the  street  cars;  and  for  three  weeks  previous,  the 
programmes  of  all  the  playhouses  of  the  city  had  cuts  of  Lin 
coln,  with  announcements  of  the  impending  celebration.  Post 
ers,  too,  were  used  in  all  of  the  surface,  elevated,  and  suburban 
trains  of  the  city.  These  had  a  picture  of  the  Saint-Gaudens 
statue  of  Lincoln,  and  carried  announcements  of  the  celebra 
tion,  with  the  location  of  the  various  meetings. 

Beautiful  bronze  tablets  were  prepared  by  the  Committee, 
containing  the  Gettysburg  Address,  which  were  placed  on  the 
walls  of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  public  schools,  and 
one  hundred  and  eighty-four  parochial  schools  of  the  city,  that 
the  four  hundred  thousand  school  children  of  Chicago,  and 
their  successors  through  the  coming  years,  might  have  ever  be 
fore  them  the  words  of  the  greatest  of  American  utterances. 
These  tablets  were  presented,  also,  to  numerous  other  private 
and  public  educational  institutions,  on  the  Centennial  Day; 
while  memorial  tablets  were  placed  on  the  site  of  the  Wigwam 
where  Lincoln  was  nominated,  and  on  the  Tremont  House, 


10  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

where  Lincoln  gave  his  first  speech  in  reply  to  Douglas — a 
speech  which  led  to  the  famous  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates — and 
where  Judge  Douglas  afterward  died. 

Thousands  of  copies  of  a  very  interesting  and  instructive 
pamphlet  on  the  "One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  Lincoln," 
were  distributed  throughout  the  city  and  the  State,  by  the  Hon. 
Francis  G.  Blair,  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of 
Illinois;  the  book  stores  and  libraries  had  on  special  exhibit 
books  and  pictures  relating  to  Lincoln  and  his  time ;  the  Chi 
cago  Public  Library,  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  Lincoln  Com 
mittee,  prepared,  and  issued  to  the  public  a  "Lincoln  Bibliog 
raphy,"  with  a  very  complete  classification  of  all  published 
works  relating  to  the  different  periods  of  Lincoln's  life.  This 
was  widely  distributed,  and  proved  of  great  interest  and  value 
in  connection  with  the  plans  of  the  general  Committee.  The 
compilation  of  the  Bibliography  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Larson. 

The  editors  of  all  the  foreign  papers  of  the  city  took  an 
active  interest  in  the  celebration.  The  Gettysburg  Speech, 
and  the  Mayor's  Proclamation  were  translated  into  the  va 
rious  foreign  languages,  printed  in  foreign  papers  published 
in  the  city,  and  posted  in  the  foreign  quarters,  in  order  that 
the  life  and  work  of  Lincoln  might  be  brought  home  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  community,  whether  they  read 
the  English  language  or  not. 

Chicago  remembered  with  pride  that  it  was  within  her 
boundaries  that  Lincoln  received  his  nomination  for  the  Pres 
idency;  and  her  celebration,  starting  on  Sunday  with  exer 
cises  in  the  churches  of  every  denomination,  lasted  throughout 
the  week  with  a  sustained  interest  that  the  most  experienced 
observer  of  public  celebrations  would  have  in  advance  declared 
utterly  impossible.  The  city  in  which  Lincoln  was  nominated 
and  in  which  he  spent  much  of  his  time,  showed  by  every  evi 
dence,  that  it  thoroughly  appreciated  the  honor  which  had  been 
conferred  upon  it  by  that  association. 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  NATION 

(A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

HON.    WILLIAM    J.    CALHOUN 

THE  progress  of  nations  towards  a  more  perfect  civiliza 
tion  is  often  attended  with  great  social  convulsions,  with 
revolutions,  and  wars.  It  is  in  such  times,  when  the  need 
of  the  people  is  the  sorest,  when  their  cry  for  leadership  is 
the  loudest,  that  the  great  man  appears.  From  obscurity  he 
sometimes  comes,  and  to  the  wondering  eyes  of  men  seems 
divinely  commissioned  for  the  needs  of  the  hour  and  for  the 
work  he  has  to  do. 

Such  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  was  the  Civil 
War,  and  such  a  man  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  time  was 
one  of  great  excitement  and  of  intense  passion.  The  air  re 
sounded  with  the  clamor  of  angry  voices,  with  the  tramp  of 
armed  men,  and  with  the  thunder  of  the  great  guns  of  war. 

Lincoln,  when  called  to  the  head  of  the  Nation,  was 
comparatively  unknown  and  inexperienced.  Many  doubted 
his  capacity  for  the  emergency,  and  questioned  the  wisdom 
of  his  policies,  but  he  continued  to  be  the  central  figure  of 
that  great  struggle.  Around  him  men,  strong  men,  fought 
and  died,  while  women  and  children  wept.  Through  it  all, 
he  was  masterful  in  control,  resolute  and  inflexible  in  pur 
pose.  But  his  resolution  was  always  tempered  with  patience, 
with  moderation,  and  with  pity. 

I  lived  in  that  time;  I  was  but  a  boy,  and  vaguely  under 
stood  the  things  I  saw  and  heard,  but  I  remember  well  the 
angry  passion  of  the  hour,  the  abuse  and  the  epithets  that 
were  heaped  upon  him.  But  just  as  the  bugles  were  blowing 
the  sweet  notes  of  victory,  just  as  the  sunshine  of  peace  was 
breaking  through  the  clouds  of  war,  he  too  fell  dead — the 
War's  last  and  most  precious  victim.  It  was  then  the  Amer 
ican  people,  North  and  South,  seemed  to  awake  to  the  realiza- 

11 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tion  that  a  great  and  good  man  had  fallen.  A  wave  of 
sympathy  and  love  swept  over  the  land,  and  removed  every 
trace  of  bitterness.  Friends  and  former  foes  alike  crowded 
around  his  grave  and  covered  it  with  laurels  of  fame  and 
with  flowers  of  praise. 

The  War  bore  heavily  upon  him.  Its  responsibilities  were 
great.  His  rugged  cheeks  were  furrowed  with  care.  His 
heart  was  wrenched  with  the  misery,  the  suffering,  and  the 
pity  of  it.  But  all  through  that  dark  and  desperate  night, 
his  greatest  hope,  his  greatest  aspiration  was  to  save  the 
Union ;  for  it  he  prayed  and  labored  and  suffered.  Regard 
less  of  every  cost  and  every  sacrifice,  his  hope,  his  trust,  his 
faith,  was  in  and  for  the  Union. 

I  do  not  know  whether  the  immortals  look  down  upon 
the  earth  and  remember  us  as  we  remember  them.  I  do  not 
know  whether  Abraham  Lincoln  takes  note  of  what  is  said 
and  done  here  to-day.  If  he  does,  the  fact  that  the  Union 
which  he  loved  is  safe ;  that  the  warring  sections  which  threat 
ened  its  perpetuity  are  now  closer  together  in  personal  re 
lations,  in  common  sympathies,  and  in  purpose,  than  ever 
before,  must  gratify  him. 

The  War  is  long  since  over.  Its  battle  flags,  blood-stained 
and  tear-stained,  have  been  furled  and  laid  away,  never  again 
to  wave  in  the  battle  front.  Its  forts  are  dismantled  and 
levelled.  Its  guns  and  swords  have  turned  to  rust.  Its  dead 
quietly  sleep  in  grass-covered  graves.  But  the  blessing  of 
a  profound  peace  rests  upon  the  Republic.  The  prayer  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  has  been  answered;  the  Union  is  saved. 
If  I  may  be  allowed  the  figure  of  speech,  the  North  and  the 
South  now  stand,  as  it  were,  side  by  side,  with  clasped  hands, 
the  heart  of  each  full  of  sacred  memories  of  the  past,  of 
courageous  endeavor  and  heroic  sacrifice.  But  their  backs 
are  turned  upon  the  past;  their  uplifted  faces  are  turned 
to  the  future,  illuminated  with  a  love  of  country  that  knows 
no  North  and  no  South,  no  East  and  no  West.  Their  as 
pirations  for  the  future  are  the  same.  Their  common  pur 
pose  is,  that  the  American  people  shall  meet  the  emergencies 
of  the  future  with  the  same  high  resolve  that  distinguished 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  13 

their  past.  And  their  common  hope  is,  that  this  Union  shall 
be  maintained  as  a  demonstration  of  the  permanency  of  de 
mocracy  ;  that  its  influence  shall  be  for  the  betterment  of  the 
life  of  the  world,  for  the  uplift  of  humanity,  and  for  the 
advancement  of  civilization. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:    A  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

PRESIDENT   WOODROW   WILSON 

MY  earliest  recollection  is  of  standing  at  my  father's 
gateway  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  when  I  was  four  years 
old,  and  hearing  some  one  pass  and  say  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  elected  and  there  was  to  be  war.  Catching  the  intense 
tones  of  his  excited  voice,  I  remember  running  in  to  ask  my 
father  what  it  meant.  What  it  meant,  you  need  not  be  told. 
What  it  meant,  we  shall  not  here  to-day  dwell  upon.  We  shall 
rather  turn  away  from  those  scenes  of  struggle  and  of  un 
happy  fraternal  strife,  and  recall  what  has  happened  since  to 
restore  our  balance,  to  remind  us  of  the  permanent  issues  of 
history,  to  make  us  single-hearted  in  our  love  of  America, 
and  united  in  our  purpose  for  her  advancement.  We  are  met 
here  to-day  to  recall  the  character  and  achievements  of  a 
man  who  did  not  stand  for  strife,  but  for  peace,  and  whose 
glory  it  was  to  win  the  affection  alike  of  those  whom  he  led 
and  of  those  whom  he  opposed,  as  indeed  a  man  and  a  king 
among  those  who  mean  the  right. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  rehearse  for  you  the  life 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  has  been  written  in  every  school 
book.  It  has  been  rehearsed  in  every  family.  It  were  to 
impeach  your  intelligence  if  I  were  to  tell  you  the  story  of  his 
life.  I  would  rather  attempt  to  expound  for  you  the  meaning 
of  his  life,  the  significance  of  his  singular  and  unique  career. 

It  is  a  very  long  century  that  separates  us  from  the  year 
of  his  birth.  The  nineteenth  century  was  crowded  with  many 
significant  events, — it  seems  to  us  in  America  as  if  it  were 
more  crowded  with  significant  events  for  us  than  for  any 
other  nation  of  the  world, — and  that  far  year  1809  stands 
very  near  its  opening,  when  men  were  only  beginning  to  un 
derstand  what  was  in  store  for  them.  It  was  a  significant 

14 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  15 

century,  not  only  in  the  field  of  politics  but  in  the  field  of 
thought.  Do  you  realize  that  modern  science  is  not  older 
than  the  middle  of  the  last  century?  Modern  science  came 
into  the  world  to  revolutionize  our  thinking  and  our  material 
enterprises  just  about  the  time  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  uttering 
those  remarkable  debates  with  Mr.  Douglas.  The  struggle 
which  determined  the  life  of  the  Union  came  just  at  the  time 
when  a  new  issue  was  joined  in  the  field  of  thought,  and  men 
began  to  reconstruct  their  conceptions  of  the  universe  and  of 
their  relation  to  nature,  and  even  of  their  relation  to  God. 
There  is,  I  believe,  no  more  significant  century  in  the  his 
tory  of  man  than  the  nineteenth  century,  and  its  whole  sweep 
is  behind  us. 

That  year  1809  produced,  as  you  know,  a  whole  group  of 
men  who  were  to  give  distinction  to  its  annals  in  many  fields 
of  thought  and  of  endeavor.  To  mention  only  some  of  the 
great  men  who  were  born  in  1809 :  the  poet  Tennyson  was 
born  in  that  year,  our  own  poet  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  the  great 
Sherman,  the  great  Mendelssohn,  Chopin,  Charles  Darwin, 
William  E.  Gladstone,  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Merely  read 
that  list  and  you  are  aware  of  the  singular  variety  of  gifts 
and  purposes  represented.  Tennyson  was,  to  my  thinking, 
something  more  than  a  poet.  We  are  apt  to  be  so  beguiled 
by  the  music  of  his  verse  as  to  suppose  that  its  charm  and 
power  lie  in  its  music ;  but  there  is  something  about  the  poet 
which  makes  him  the  best  interpreter,  not  only  of  life,  but  of 
national  purpose,  and  there  is  to  be  found  in  Tennyson  a 
great  body  of  interpretation  which  utters  the  very  voice 
of  Anglo-Saxon  liberty.  That  fine  line  in  which  he  speaks 
of  how  English  liberty  has  "broadened  down  from  precedent 
to  precedent "  embodies  the  noble  slowness,  the  very  process 
and  the  very  certainty,  of  the  forces  which  made  men  po 
litically  free  in  the  great  century  in  which  he  wrote.  He 
was  a  master  who  saw  into  the  heart  of  affairs,  as  well  as  a 
great  musician  who  seemed  to  give  them  the  symphony  of 
sound. 

And  then  there  was  our  own  Poe,  that  exquisite  workman 
in  the  human  language,  that  exquisite  artisan  in  all  the  nice 


16  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

effects  of  speech,  the  man  who  dreamed  all  the  odd  dreams 
of  the  human  imagination,  and  who  quickened  us  with  all 
the  singular  stories  that  the  mind  can  invent,  and  did  it 
all  with  the  nicety  and  certainty  of  touch  of  the  consummate 
artist. 

And  then  there  were  Chopin  and  Mendelssohn,  whose  music 
constantly  rings  in  our  ears  and  lifts  our  spirits  to  new 
sources  of  delight.  And  there  was  Charles  Darwin,  with 
an  insight  into  nature  next  to  Newton 's  own ;  and  Gladstone, 
who  knew  how  to  rule  men  by  those  subtle  forces  of  oratory 
which  shape  the  history  of  the  world  and  determine  the  re 
lations  of  nations  to  each  other. 

And  then  our  Lincoln.  When  you  read  that  name  you  are 
at  once  aware  of  something  that  distinguishes  it  from  all 
the  rest.  There  was  in  each  of  those  other  men  some  special 
gift,  but  not  in  Lincoln.  You  cannot  pick  Lincoln  out  for 
any  special  characteristic.  He  did  not  have  any  one  of  those 
peculiar  gifts  that  the  other  men  on  this  list  possessed.  He 
does  not  seem  to  belong  in  a  list  at  all;  he  seems  to  stand 
unique  and  singular  and  complete  in  himself.  The  name 
makes  the  same  impression  upon  the  ear  that  the  name  of 
Shakespeare  makes,  because  it  is  as  if  he  contained  a  world 
within  himself.  And  that  is  the  thing  which  marks  the 
singular  stature  and  nature  of  this  great — and,  we  would 
fain  believe,  typical — American.  Because  when  you  try  to 
describe  the  character  of  Lincoln  you  seem  to  be  trying  to 
describe  a  great  process  of  nature.  Lincoln  seems  to  have 
been  of  general  human  use  and  not  of  particular  and  limited 
human  use.  There  was  no  point  at  which  life  touched  him 
that  he  did  not  speak  back  to  it  instantly  its  meaning.  There 
was  no  affair  that  touched  him  to  which  he  did  not  give  back 
life,  as  if  'he  had  communicated  a  spark  of  fire  to  kindle  it. 
The  man  seemed  to  have,  slumbering  in  him,  powers  which 
he  did  not  exert  of  his  own  choice,  but  which  woke  the  mo 
ment  they  were  challenged,  and  for  which  no  challenge  was 
too  great  or  comprehensive. 

You  know  how  slow,  how  almost  sluggish  the  development 
of  the  man  was.  You  know  how  those  who  consorted  with  him 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  17 

in  his  youth  noted  the  very  thing  of  which  I  speak.  They 
would  have  told  you  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  good  for 
nothing  in  particular;  and  the  singular  fact  is  he  was  good 
for  nothing  in  particular — he  was  good  for  everything  in 
general.  He  did  not  narrow  and  concentrate  his  power,  be 
cause  it  was  meant  to  be  diffused  as  the  sun  itself.  And  so 
he  went  through  his  youth  like  a  man  who  has  nothing  to  do, 
like  a  man  whose  mind  is  never  halted  at  any  point  where 
it  becomes  serious,  to  seize  upon  the  particular  endeavor  or 
occupation  for  which  it  is  intended.  He  went  from  one  sort 
of  partial  success  to  another  sort  of  partial  success,  or,  as 
his  contemporaries  would  have  said,  from  failure  to  failure, 
until — not  until  he  found  himself,  but  until,  so  to  say,  af 
fairs  found  him,  and  the  crisis  of  a  country  seemed  suddenly 
to  match  the  universal  gift  of  his  nature ;  until  a  great  nature 
was  summed  up,  not  in  any  particular  business  or  activity, 
but  in  the  affairs  of  a  whole  country.  It  was  characteristic 
of  the  man. 

Have  you  ever  looked  at  some  of  those  singular  statues  of 
the  great  French  sculptor  Rodin — those  pieces  of  marble  in 
which  only  some  part  of  a  figure  is  revealed  and  the  rest  is 
left  in  the  hidden  lines  of  the  marble  itself;  where  there 
emerges  the  arm  and  the  bust  and  the  eager  face,  it  may  be, 
of  a  man,  but  his  body  disappears  in  the  general  bulk  of  the 
stone,  and  the  lines  fall  off  vaguely?  I  have  often  been 
made  to  think,  in  looking  at  those  statues,  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
There  was  a  little  disclosed  in  him,  but  not  all.  You  feel 
that  he  was  so  far  from  being  exhausted  by  the  demands  of 
his  life  that  more  remained  unrevealed  than  was  disclosed 
to  our  view.  The  lines  run  off  into  infinity  and  lead  the 
imagination  into  every  great  conjecture.  We  wonder  what 
the  man  might  have  done,  what  he  might  have  been,  and  we 
feel  that  there  was  more  promise  in  him  when  he  died  than 
when  he  was  born ;  that  the  force  was  so  far  from  being  ex 
hausted  that  it  had  only  begun  to  display  itself  in  its  splendor 
and  perfection.  No  man  can  think  of  the  life  of  Lincoln 
without  feeling  that  the  man  was  cut  off  almost  at  his  be 
ginning. 


18  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And  so  it  is  with  every  genius  of  this  kind,  not  singular 
but  universal,  because  there  were  uses  to  which  it  was  not 
challenged.  You  feel  that  there  is  no  telling  what  it  might 
have  done  in  days  to  come,  when  there  would  have  been  new 
demands  made  upon  its  strength  and  upon  its  versatility.  He 
is  like  some  great  reservoir  of  living  water  which  you  can 
freely  quaff  but  can  never  exhaust.  There  is  something  ab 
solutely  endless  about  the  lines  of  such  a  life. 

And  you  will  see  that  that  very  fact  renders  it  difficult 
indeed  to  point  out  the  characteristics  of  a  man  like  Lin 
coln.  How  shall  you  describe  general  human  nature  brought 
to  its  finest  development? — for  such  was  this  man.  We  say 
that  he  was  honest;  men  used  to  call  him  "Honest  Abe." 
But  honesty  is  not  a  quality.  Honesty  is  the  manifestation 
of  character.  Lincoln  was  honest  because  there  was  nothing 
small  or  petty  about  him,  and  only  smallness  and  pettiness 
in  a  nature  can  produce  dishonesty.  Such  honesty  is  a  qual 
ity  of  largeness.  It  is  that  openness  of  nature  which  will 
not  condescend  to  subterfuge,  which  is  too  big  to  conceal 
itself.  Little  men  run  to  cover  and  deceive  you.  Big  men 
cannot  and  will  not  run  to  cover,  and  do  not  deceive  you. 
Of  course,  Lincoln  was  honest.  But  that  was  not  a  peculiar 
characteristic  of  him;  that  is  a  general  description  of  him. 
He  was  not  small  or  mean,  and  his  honesty  was  not  produced 
by  any  calculation,  but  was  the  genial  expression  of  the  great 
nature  that  was  behind  it. 

Then  we  also  say  of  Lincoln  that  he  saw  things  with  his 
own  eyes.  And  it  is  very  interesting  that  we  can  pick  out 
individual  men  to  say  that  of  them.  The  opposite  of  the 
proposition  is,  that  most  men  see  things  with  other  men's 
eyes.  And  that  is  the  pity  of  the  whole  business  of  the  world. 
Most  men  do  not  see  things  with  their  own  eyes.  If  they 
did  they  would  not  be  so  inconspicuous  as  they  consent  to  be. 
What  most  persons  do  is  to  live  up  to  formulas  and  opinions 
and  believe  them,  and  never  give  themselves  the  trouble 
to  ask  whether  they  are  true  or  not;  so  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  truth  in  saying  that  the  trouble  is,  that  men  believe 
so  many  things  that  are  not  so,  because  they  have  taken  them 


r v 


One   of  Two   Bronze   Tablets  Erected    During   the    Centenary  upon 
the  Site   of  the   Old   Tremont    House 


One   of  Two    Bronze   Tablets   Erected    During   the   Centenary  upon 
the  Site  of  the   Old  Tremont   House 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  19 

at  second  hand;  they  have  accepted  them  in  the  form  they 
were  given  to  them.  They  have  not  reexamined  them.  They 
have  not  seen  the  world  with  their  own  eyes.  But  Lincoln 
saw  it  with  his  own  eyes.  And  he  not  only  saw  the  surface 
of  it,  but  saw  beneath  the  surface  of  it ;  for  the  characteristic 
of  the  seeing  eye  is  that  it  is  a  discerning  eye,  seeing  also 
that  which  is  not  caught  by  the  surface;  it  penetrates  to  the 
heart  of  the  subjects  it  looks  upon.  Not  only  did  this  man 
look  upon  life  with  a  discerning  eye.  If  you  read  of  his 
youth  and  of  his  early  manhood,  it  would  seem  that  these 
were  his  only  and  sufficient  pleasures.  Lincoln  seemed  to 
covet  nothing  from  his  business  except  that  it  would  give 
him  leisure  enough  to  do  this  very  thing — to  look  at  other 
people ;  to  talk  about  them ;  to  sit  by  the  stove  in  the  evening 
and  discuss  politics  with  them;  to  talk  about  all  the  things 
that  were  going  on,  to  make  shrewd,  penetrating  comments 
upon  them,  to  speak  his  penetrating  jests. 

I  had  a  friend  once  who  said  he  seriously  thought  that 
the  business  of  life  was  conversation.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  Mr.  Lincoln 's  early  life  which  would  indicate  that  he  was  of 
the  same  opinion.  He  believed  that,  at  any  rate,  the  most 
attractive  business  of  life  was  conversation ;  and  conversation, 
with  Lincoln,  was  an  important  part  of  the  business  of  life, 
because  it  was  conversation  which  uncovered  the  meanings  of 
things  and  illuminated  the  hidden  places  where  nobody  but 
Lincoln  had  ever  thought  of  looking. 

You  remember  the  very  interesting  story  told  about  Mr.  Lin 
coln  in  his  early  practice  as  a  lawyer.  Some  business  firm 
at  a  distance  wrote  to  him  and  asked  him  to  look  into  the 
credit  of  a  certain  man  who  had  asked  to  have  credit  ex 
tended  to  him  by  the  firm.  Mr.  Lincoln  went  around  to  see 
the  man  at  his  place  of  business,  and  reported  to  this  effect: 
that  he  had  found  the  man  in  an  office  which  contained  one 
table  and  two  chairs,  "But,"  he  added,  "there  is  a  hole  in 
the  corner  that  would  bear  looking  into."  That  anecdote, 
slight  as  it  is,  is  typical  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  sometimes  found 
the  character  of  the  man  lurking  in  a  hole;  and  when  his 
speech  touched  that  character  it  was  illuminated;  you  could 


20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

not  frame  otherwise  a  better  characterization.  That  seemed 
to  be  the  business  of  the  man's  life;  to  look  at  things  and 
to  comment  upon  them;  and  his  comment  upon  them  was 
just  as  fearless  and  just  as  direct  as  it  was  shrewd  and  pene 
trating. 

I  know  some  men  can  see  anything  they  choose  to  see, 
but  they  won't  say  anything;  who  are  dried  up  at  the  source 
by  that  enemy  of  mankind  which  we  call  Caution.  God  save 
a  free  country  from  cautious  men, — men,  I  mean,  cautious  for 
themselves, — for  cautious  men  are  men  who  will  not  speak  the 
truth  if  the  speaking  of  it  threatens  to  damage  them.  Cau 
tion  is  the  confidential  agent  of  selfishness. 

This  man  had  no  caution.  He  was  absolutely  direct  and 
fearless.  You  will  say  that  he  had  very  little  worldly  goods 
to  lose.  He  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  encumbered  by  riches, 
therefore  he  could  say  what  he  pleased.  You  know  that  men 
who  are  encumbered  by  riches  are  apt  to  be  more  silent  than 
others.  They  have  given  hostages  to  fortune,  and  for  them  it 
is  very  necessary  to  maintain  the  status  quo.  Now,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  not  embarrassed  in  this  way.  A  change  of  circumstances 
would  suit  him  just  as  well  as  the  permanency  of  existing 
circumstances.  But  I  am  confident  that  if  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
had  the  gift  of  making  money,  he  nevertheless  would  not  have 
restrained  his  gift  for  saying  things;  that  he  nevertheless 
would  have  ignored  the  trammels  and  despised  caution  and 
said  what  he  thought.  But  one  interesting  thing  about  Mr. 
Lincoln  is  that  no  matter  how  shrewd  or  penetrating  his  com 
ment,  he  never  seemed  to  allow  a  matter  to  grip  him.  He 
seemed  so  directly  in  contact  with  it  that  he  could  define 
things  other  men  could  not  define;  and  yet  he  was  detached. 
He  did  not  look  upon  it  as  if  he  were  part  of  it.  And  he 
was  constantly  salting  all  the  delightful  things  that  he  said, 
with  the  salt  of  wit  and  humor. 

I  would  not  trust  a  saturnine  man,  but  I  would  trust  a  wit ; 
because  a  wit  is  a  man  who  can  detach  himself,  and  not 
get  so  buried  in  the  matter  he  is  dealing  with  as  to  lose  that 
sure  and  free  movement  which  a  man  can  have  only  when  he  is 
detached.  If  a  man  can  comment  upon  his  own  misfortunes 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  21 

with  a  touch  of  humor,  you  know  that  his  misfortunes  are 
not  going  to  subdue  or  kill  him.  You  should  try  to  instill 
into  every  distressed  friend  the  inclination  to  hold  himself 
off  at  arm's  length,  and  should  assure  him  that,  after  all, 
there  have  been  worse  cases  on  record.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not 
under  the  impression  that  his  own  misfortunes  were  unique, 
and  he  was  not  under  the  impression  that  the  misfortunes  of 
his  fellow-men  were  unique  or  unalterable.  Therefore  he 
was  detached ;  therefore  he  was  a  wit ;  therefore  he  told 
you  a  story  to  show  that  he  was  not  so  intense  upon  a  matter 
that  he  could  not  recognize  the  funny  side  of  it. 

Not  only  that,  but  Lincoln  was  a  singularly  studious  man 
— not  studious  in  the  ordinary  conventional  sense.  To  be 
studious  in  the  ordinary,  conventional  sense,  if  I  may  judge 
by  my  observation  at  a  university,  is  to  do  the  things  you 
have  to  do  and  not  understand  them  particularly.  But  to 
be  studious,  in  the  sense  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  studious,  is 
to  follow  eagerly  and  fearlessly  the  curiosity  of  a  mind  which 
will  not  be  satisfied  unless  it  understands.  That  is  a  deep 
studiousness ;  that  is  the  thing  which  lays  bare  the  map  of 
life  and  enables  men  to  understand  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  live,  as  nothing  else  can  do. 

And  what  commends  Mr.  Lincoln's  studiousness  to  me  is 
that  the  result  of  it  was  he  did  not  have  any  theories  at  all. 
Life  is  a  very  complex  thing.  No  theory  that  I  ever  heard  pro 
pounded  will  match  its  varied  pattern;  and  the  men  who 
are  dangerous  are  the  men  who  are  not  content  with  under 
standing,  but  go  on  to  propound  theories,  things  which  will 
make  a  new  pattern  for  society  and  a  new  model  for  the 
universe.  Those  are  the  men  who  are  not  to  be  trusted. 
Because,  although  you  steer  by  the  North  Star,  when  you 
have  lost  the  bearings  of  your  compass,  you  nevertheless 
must  steer  in  a  pathway  on  the  sea, — you  are  not  bound  for 
the  North  Star.  The  man  who  insists  upon  his  theory  insists 
that  there  is  a  way  to  the  North  Star,  and  I  know,  and  every 
one  knows,  that  there  is  not — at  least  none  yet  discovered. 
Lincoln  was  one  of  those  delightful  students  who  do  not  seek 
to  tie  you  up  in  the  meshes  of  any  theory. 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Such  was  Mr.  Lincoln, — not  a  singular  man ;  a  very  normal 
man,  but  normal  in  gigantic  proportions, — the  whole  charac 
ter  of  him  is  on  as  great  a  scale — and  yet  so  delightfully  in 
formal  in  the  way  it  was  put  together — as  was  the  great 
frame  in  which  he  lived.  That  great,  loose- jointed,  angular 
frame  that  Mr.  Lincoln  inhabited  was  a  very  fine  symbol  of 
the  big,  loose-jointed,  genial,  angular  nature  that  was  inside; 
angular,  not  in  the  sense  of  having  sharp  corners  upon  which 
men  might  wound  themselves,  but  angular  as  nature  is  an 
gular.  Nature  is  not  symmetrical  like  the  Renaissance  archi 
tecture.  Nature  is  an  architect  who  does  not,  in  the  least, 
mind  putting  a  very  different  thing  on  one  side  from  what  it 
has  put  on  the  other.  Your  average  architect  wants  to 
balance  his  windows;  to  have  consistency  and  balance  in  the 
parts.  But  nature  is  not  interested  in  that.  Nature  does 
what  it  pleases,  and  so  did  the  nature  of  Lincoln.  It  did 
what  it  pleased,  and  was  no  more  conventionalized  and  sym 
metrical  than  the  body  of  the  man  himself. 

Mr.  Lincoln  belonged  to  a  type  which  is  fast  disappearing, 
the  type  of  the  frontiersman.  And  he  belonged  to  a  process 
which  has  almost  disappeared  from  this  country.  Mr.  Lincoln 
seemed  slow  in  his  development,  but  when  you  think  of  the 
really  short  span  of  his  life  and  the  distance  he  traversed  in 
the  process  of  maturing,  you  will  see  that  it  can  not  be  said 
to  have  been  a  slow  process.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  bred  in  that 
part  of  the  country — this  part,  though  we  can  hardly  conceive 
it  now — where  States  were  made  as  fast  as  men.  Lincoln  was 
made  along  with  the  States  that  were  growing  as  fast  as 
men  were.  States  were  born  and  came  to  their  maturity,  in 
that  day,  within  the  legal  limit  of  twenty-one  years,  and  the 
very  pressure  of  that  rapid  change,  the  very  imperious  ne 
cessity  of  that  quick  process  of  maturing,  was  what  made 
and  moulded  men  with  a  speed  and  in  a  sort  which  have 
never  since  been  matched.  Here  were  the  processes  of  civ 
ilization  and  of  the  building  up  of  polities  crowded  into  a 
single  generation;  and  where  such  processes  are  crowded, 
men  grow.  Men  could  be  picked  out  in  the  crude,  and,  if 
put  in  that  crucible,  could  be  refined  out  in  a  single  genera- 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  23 

tion  into  pure  metal.  That  was  the  process  which  made  Mr. 
Lincoln.  We  could  not  do  it  that  way  again,  because  that 
period  has  passed  forever  with  us. 

Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  have  been  born  at  any  other  time  and 
he  could  not  have  been  made  in  any  other  way.  I  took  the 
liberty  of  saying  in  New  York  the  other  day  that  it  was  incon 
ceivable  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could  have  been  born  in  New  York. 
I  did  not  intend  thereby  any  disparagement  of  New  York, 
but  simply  to  point  the  moral  that  he  could  not  have  been 
born  in  a  finished  community.  He  had  to  be  produced  in  a 
community  that  was  on  the  make,  in  the  making.  New 
York  is  on  the  make,  but  it  is  not  in  the  making. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  other  words,  was  produced  by  processes 
which  no  longer  exist  anywhere  in  America,  and  therefore  we 
are  solemnized  by  this  question :  Can  we  have  other  Lincolns  ? 
We  cannot  do  without  them.  This  country  is  going  to  have 
crisis  after  crisis.  God  send  they  may  not  be  bloody  crises, 
but  they  will  be  intense  and  acute.  No  body  politic  so 
abounding  in  life  and  so  puzzled  by  problems  as  ours  is  can 
avoid  moving  from  crisis  to  crisis.  We  must  have  the  leader 
ship  of  sane,  genial  men  of  universal  use  like  Lincoln,  to 
save  us  from  mistakes  and  give  us  the  necessary  leadership 
in  such  days  of  struggle  and  of  difficulty.  And  yet,  such 
men  will  hereafter  have  to  be  produced  among  us  by  pro 
cesses  which  are  not  characteristically  American,  but  which 
belong  to  the  whole  world. 

There  was  something  essentially  native,  American,  about 
Lincoln;  and  there  will,  no  doubt,  be  something  American 
about  every  man  produced  by  the  processes  of  America;  but 
no  such  distinguished  process  as  the  process,  unique  and 
separate,  of  that  early  age  can  be  repeated  for  us. 

It  seems  to  me  serviceable,  therefore,  to  ask  ourselves  what 
it  is  that  we  must  reproduce  in  order  not  to  lose  the  breed, 
the  splendid  breed,  of  men  of  this  calibre.  Mr.  Lincoln  we 
describe  as  "a  man  of  the  people,"  and  he  was  a  man  of 
the  people,  essentially.  But  what  do  we  mean  by  a  "man  of 
the  people"?  We  mean  a  man,  of  course,  who  has  his  root 
age  deep  in  the  experiences  and  the  consciousness  of  the 


24  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ordinary  mass  of  his  fellow-men ;  but  we  do  not  mean  a  man 
whose  rootage  is  holding  him  at  their  level.  We  mean  a  man 
who,  drawing  his  sap  from  such  sources,  has,  nevertheless, 
risen  above  the  level  of  the  rest  of  mankind  and  has  got  an 
outlook  over  their  heads,  seeing  horizons  which  they  are  too 
submerged  to  see;  a  man  who  finds  and  draws  his  inspira 
tion  from  the  common  plane,  but  nevertheless  has  lifted  him 
self  to  a  new  place  of  outlook  and  of  insight;  who  has  come 
out  from  the  people  and  is  their  leader,  not  because  he  speaks 
from  their  ranks,  but  because  he  speaks  for  them  and  for 
their  interests. 

Browning  has  said : 

"A  nation  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one; 
And  they  who  live  as  models  for  the  mass 
Are  singly  of  more  value  than  they  all." 

Lincoln  was  of  the  mass,  but  he  was  so  lifted  and  big 
that  all  men  could  look  upon  him,  until  he  became  the 
" model  for  the  mass'7  and  was  "singly  of  more  value  than 
they  all." 

It  was  in  that  sense  that  Lincoln  was  "a  man  of  the  peo 
ple."  His  sources  were  where  all  the  pure  springs  are,  but 
his  streams  flowed  down  into  other  country  and  fertilized 
other  plains,  where  men  had  become  sophisticated  with  the 
life  of  an  older  age. 

A  great  nation  is  not  led  by  a  man  who  simply  repeats 
the  talk  of  the  street-corners  or  the  opinions  of  the  news 
papers.  A  nation  is  led  by  a  man  who  hears  more  than 
those  things;  or  who,  rather,  hearing  those  things,  under 
stands  them  better,  unites  them,  puts  them  into  a  common 
meaning;  speaks,  not  the  rumors  of  the  street,  but  a  new 
principle  for  a  new  age;  a  man  in  whose  ears  the  voices 
of  the  nation  do  not  sound  like  the  accidental  and  discordant 
notes  that  come  from  the  voice  of  a  mob,  but  concurrent 
and  concordant  like  the  united  voices  of  a  chorus,  whose 
many  meanings,  spoken  by  melodious  tongues,  unite  in  his 
understanding  in  a  single  meaning  and  reveal  to  him  a 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  25 

single  vision,  so  that  he  can  speak  what  no  man  else  knows, 
the  common  meaning  of  the  common  voice.  Such  is  the  man 
who  leads  a  great,  free,  democratic  nation. 

We  must  always  be  led  by  '  *  men  of  the  people, ' '  and  there 
fore  it  behooves  us  to  know  them  when  we  see  them.  How 
shall  we  distinguish  them?  Judged  by  this  man,  interpreted 
by  this  life,  what  is  a  "man  of  the  people"?  How  shall  we 
know  him  when  he  emerges  to  our  view? 

Well,  in  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  man  of  the 
people  is  a  man  who  sees  affairs  as  the  people  see  them,  and 
not  as  a  man  of  particular  classes  or  the  professions  sees 
them.  You  cannot  afford  to  take  the  advice  of  a  man  who 
has  been  too  long  submerged  in  a  particular  profession, — not 
because  you  cannot  trust  him  to  be  honest  and  candid,  but 
because  he  has  been  too  long  immersed  and  submerged,  and 
through  the  inevitable  pressure  and  circumstances  of  his  life 
has  come  to  look  upon  the  nation  from  a  particular  point 
of  view.  The  man  of  the  people  is  a  man  who  looks  far 
and  wide  upon  the  nation,  and  is  not  limited  by  a  profes 
sional  point  of  view.  That  may  be  a  hard  doctrine;  it  may 
exclude  some  gentlemen  ambitious  to  lead;  but  I  am  not 
trying  to  exclude  them  by  any  arbitrary  dictum  of  my  own; 
I  am  trying  to  interpret  so  much  as  I  understand  of  human 
history,  and  if  human  history  has  excluded  them,  you  cannot 
blame  me.  Human  history  has  excluded  them,  as  far  as  I 
understand  it,  and  that  is  the  end  of  the  matter.  I  am  not 
excluding  them.  In  communities  like  ours,  governed  by  gen 
eral  opinion  and  not  led  by  classes,  not  dictated  to  by  special 
interests,  they  are  of  necessity  excluded.  You  will  see  that 
it  follows  that  a  man  of  the  people  is  not  subdued  by  any 
stuff  of  life  that  he  has  happened  to  work  in ;  that  he  is  free 
to  move  in  any  direction  his  spirit  prompts.  Are  you  not 
glad  that  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  succeed  too  deeply  in  any  par 
ticular  calling;  that  he  was  sufficiently  detached  to  be  lifted 
to  a  place  of  leadership  and  to  be  used  by  the  whole  country  ? 
Are  you  not  glad  that  he  had  not  narrowed  his  view  and 
understanding  to  any  particular  interest, — did  not  think  in 
the  terms  of  interest  but  in  the  terms  of  life?  Are  you  not 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

glad  that  he  had  a  myriad  of  contacts  with  the  growing  and 
vehement  life  of  this  country,  and  that,  because  of  that  mul 
tiple  contact,  he  was,  more  than  any  one  else  of  his  genera 
tion,  the  spokesman  of  the  general  opinion  of  this  country? 

Why  was  it  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  wiser  than  the  professional 
politicians?  Because  the  professional  politicians  had  bur 
rowed  into  particular  burrows  and  Mr.  Lincoln  walked  on  the 
surface  and  saw  his  fellow-men. 

Why  could  Mr.  Lincoln  smile  at  lawyers  and  turn  away 
from  ministers  ?  Because  he  had  not  had  his  contact  with  life 
as  a  lawyer  has,  and  he  had  not  lectured  his  fellow-men  as  a 
minister  has.  He  was  detached  from  every  point  of  view 
and  therefore  superior, — at  any  rate  in  a  position  to  becom 
ing  superior, — to  every  point  of  view.  You  must  have  a  man 
of  this  detachable  sort. 

Moreover,  you  must  not  have  a  man,  if  he  is  to  be  a  man 
of  the  people,  who  is  standardized  and  conventionalized. 
Look  to  it  that  your  communities,  your  great  cities,  do  not 
impose  too  arbitrary  standards  upon  the  men  whom  you  wish 
to  use.  Do  not  reduce  men  to  standards.  Let  them  be  free. 
Do  not  compel  them  by  conventions.  Let  them  wear  any 
clothes  they  please  and  look  like  anything  they  choose;  let 
them  do  anything  that  a  decent  and  an  honest  man  may  do 
without  criticism;  do  not  laugh  at  them  because  they  do  not 
look  like  you,  or  talk  like  you,  or  think  like  you.  They  are 
freer  for  that  circumstance,  because,  as  an  English  writer 
has  said:  "You  may  talk  of  the  tyranny  of  Nero  and  Ti 
berius,  but  the  real  tyranny  is  the  tyranny  of  your  next- 
door  neighbor.  There  is  no  tyranny  like  the  tyranny  of 
being  obliged  to  be  like  him," — of  being  considered  a  very 
singular  person  if  you  are  not;  of  having  men  shrug  their 
shoulders  and  say,  "Singular  young  man,  sir,  singular  young 
man;  very  gifted,  but  not  to  be  trusted."  Not  to  be  trusted 
because  unlike  your  own  trustworthy  self!  You  must  take 
your  leaders  in  every  time  of  difficulty  from  among  abso 
lutely  free  men  who  are  not  standardized  and  convention 
alized,  who  are  at  liberty  to  do  what  they  think  right  and 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  27 

say  what  they  think  true ;  that  is  the  only  kind  of  leadership 
you  can  afford  to  have. 

And  then,  last  and  greatest  characteristic  of  all,  a  man 
of  the  people  is  a  man  who  has  felt  that  unspoken,  that  in 
tense,  that  almost  terrifying  struggle  of  humanity,  that  strug 
gle  whose  object  is,  not  to  get  forms  of  government,  not  to 
realize  particular  formulas  or  make  for  any  definite  goal, 
but  simply  to  live  and  be  free.  He  has  participated  in  that 
struggle;  he  has  felt  the  blood  stream  against  the  tissue; 
he  has  known  anxiety;  he  has  felt  that  life  contained  for 
him  nothing  but  effort,  effort  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
to  the  going  down  of  it.  He  has,  therefore,  felt  beat  in  him, 
if  he  had  any  heart,  a  universal  sympathy  for  those  who 
struggle,  a  universal  understanding  of  the  unutterable 
things  that  were  in  their  hearts  and  the  unbearable  burdens 
that  were  upon  their  backs.  A  man  who  has  that  vision,  of 
how — 

"Now  touching  good,  now  backward  hurled, 
Toils  the  indomitable  world" — 

a  man  like  Lincoln — understands.  His  was  part  of  the  toil ; 
he  had  part  and  lot  in  the  struggle;  he  knew  the  uncer 
tainty  of  the  goal  mankind  had  but  just  touched  and  from 
which  they  had  been  hurled  back;  knew  that  the  price  of 
life  is  blood,  and  that  no  man  who  goes  jauntily  and  com 
placently  through  the  world  will  ever  touch  the  springs  of 
human  action.  Such  a  man  with  such  a  consciousness,  such 
a  universal  human  sympathy,  such  a  universal  comprehension 
of  what  life  means,  is  your  man  of  the  people,  and  no  one 
else  can  be. 

What  shall  we  do?  It  always  seems  to  me  a  poor  tribute 
to  a  great  man  who  has  been  great  in  action,  to  spend  the 
hours  of  his  praise  by  merely  remembering  what  he  was; 
and  there  is  no  more  futile  eulogy  than  attempted  imitation. 
It  is  impossible  to  imitate  Lincoln,  without  being  Lincoln; 
and  then  it  would  not  be  an  imitation.  It  is  impossible  to 
reproduce  the  characters,  as  it  is  impossible  to  reproduce  the 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

circumstances,  of  a  past  age.  That  ought  to  be  a  truism; 
that  ought  to  be  evident.  We  live,  and  we  have  no  other 
choice,  in  this  age,  and  the  tasks  of  this  age  are  the  only 
tasks  to  which  we  are  asked  to  address  ourselves.  We  are 
not  asked  to  apply  our  belated  wisdom  to  the  problems  and 
perplexities  of  an  age  that  is  gone.  We  must  have  timely 
remedies,  suitable  for  the  existing  moment.  If  that  be  true, 
the  only  way  in  which  we  can  worthily  celebrate  a  great 
man  is  by  showing  to-day  that  we  have  not  lost  the  tradition 
of  force  which  made  former  ages  great,  that  we  can  repro 
duce  them  continuously  in  a  kind  of  our  own.  You  elevate 
the  character  of  a  man  like  Lincoln  for  his  fellow-men  to 
gaze  upon,  not  as  if  it  were  an  unattainable  height,  but  as 
one  of  those  conspicuous  objects  which  men  erect  to  mark 
the  long  lines  of  a  survey,  so  that  when  they  top  the  next 
hill  they  shall  see  that  mark  standing  there  where  they  have 
passed,  not  as  something  to  daunt  them,  but  as  a  high  point 
by  which  they  can  lengthen  and  complete  their  measurements 
and  make  sure  of  their  ultimate  goal  and  achievement.  That 
is  the  reason  we  erect  the  figures  of  men  like  this  to  be  ad 
mired  and  looked  upon,  not  as  if  we  were  men  who  walk 
backward  and  deplore  the  loss  of  such  figures  and  of  such 
ages,  but  as  men  who  keep  such  heights  in  mind  and  walk 
forward,  knowing  that  the  goal  of  the  age  is  to  scale  new 
heights  and  to  do  things  of  which  their  work  was  a  mere 
foundation,  so  that  we  shall  live,  like  every  other  living  thing, 
by  renewal.  We  shall  not  live  by  recollection,  we  shall  not 
live  by  trying  to  recall  the  strength  of  the  old  tissue,  but  by 
producing  new  tissue.  The  process  of  life  is  a  process  of 
growth,  and  the  process  of  growth  is  a  process  of  renewal; 
and  it  is  only  in  this  wise  that  we  shall  face  the  tasks  of  the 
future. 

The  tasks  of  the  future  call  for  men  like  Lincoln  more 
audibly,  more  imperatively,  than  did  the  tasks  of  the  time 
when  civil  war  was  brewing  and  the  very  existence  of  the 
Nation  was  in  the  scale  of  destiny.  For  the  things  that 
perplex  us  at  this  moment  are  the  things  which  mark,  I  will 
not  say  a  warfare,  but  a  division  among  classes;  and  when 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  29 

a  nation  begins  to  be  divided  into  rival  and  contestant  inter 
ests  by  the  score,  the  time  is  much  more  dangerous  than  when 
it  is  divided  into  only  two  perfectly  distinguishable  interests 
which  you  can  discriminate  and  deal  with.  If  there  are  only 
two  sides  I  can  easily  make  up  my  mind  which  side  to  take, 
but  if  there  are  a  score  of  sides  then  I  must  say  to  some  man 
who  is  not  immersed,  not  submerged,  not  caught  in  this 
struggle,  " Where  shall  I  go?  What  do  you  see?  What  is 
the  movement  of  the  mass?  Where  are  we  going?  Where  do 
you  propose  you  should  go  ?  "  It  is  then  I  need  a  man  of  the 
people,  detached  from  this  struggle  yet  cognizant  of  it  all, 
sympathetic  with  it  all,  saturated  with  it  all,  to  whom  I  can 
say,  "How  do  you  sum  it  up,  what  are  the  signs  of  the  day, 
what  does  the  morning  say,  what  are  the  tasks  that  we  must 
set  our  hands  to  ? "  We  should  pray,  not  only  that  we  should 
be  led  by  such  men,  but  also  that  they  should  be  men  of  the 
particular  sweetness  that  Lincoln  possessed. 

The  most  dangerous  thing  you  can  have  in  an  age  like 
this  is  a  man  who  is  intense  and  hot.  We  have  heat  enough; 
what  we  want  is  light.  Anybody  can  stir  up  emotions,  but 
who  is  master  of  men  enough  to  take  the  saddle  and  guide 
those  awakened  emotions?  Anybody  can  cry  a  nation  awake 
to  the  necessities  of  reform,  but  who  shall  frame  the  reform 
but  a  man  who  is  cool,  who  takes  his  time,  who  will  draw 
you  aside  for  a  jest,  who  will  say:  "Yes,  but  not  to-day,  to 
morrow  ;  let  us  see  the  other  man  and  see  what  he  has  to  say ; 
let  us  hear  everybody,  let  us  know  what  we  are  to  do.  In 
the  meantime  I  have  a  capital  story  for  your  private  ear. 
Let  me  take  the  strain  off,  let  me  unbend  the  steel.  Don't 
let  us  settle  this  thing  by  fire  but  let  us  settle  it  by  those 
cool,  incandescent  lights  which  show  its  real  nature  and 
color. ' ' 

The  most  valuable  thing  about  Mr.  Lincoln  was  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  strain  of  war,  in  the  midst  of  the  crash  of  arms, 
he  could  sit  quietly  in  his  room  and  enjoy  a  book  that  led 
his  thoughts  off  from  everything  American,  could  wander  in 
fields  of  dreams,  while  every  other  man  was  hot  with  the  im 
mediate  contest.  Always  set  your  faith  in  a  man  who  can 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

withdraw  himself,  because  only  the  man  who  can  withdraw 
himself  can  see  the  stage;  only  the  man  who  can  withdraw 
himself  can  see  affairs  as  they  are. 

And  so  the  lesson  of  this  day  is  faith  in  the  common  product 
of  the  nation;  the  lesson  of  this  day  is  the  future  as  well 
as  the  past  leadership  of  men,  wise  men,  who  have  come 
from  the  people.  We  should  not  be  Americans  deserving 
to  call  ourselves  the  fellow-countrymen  of  Lincoln  if  we  did 
not  feel  the  compulsion  that  his  example  lays  upon  us — the 
compulsion,  not  to  heed  him  merely  but  to  look  to  our  own 
duty,  to  live  every  day  as  if  that  were  the  day  upon  which 
America  was  to  be  reborn  and  remade;  to  attack  every  task 
as  if  we  had  something  here  that  was  new  and  virginal  and 
original,  out  of  which  we  could  make  the  very  stuff  of  life, 
by  integrity,  faith  in  our  fellow-men,  wherever  it  is  deserved, 
absolute  ignorance  of  any  obstacle  that  is  insuperable,  pa 
tience,  indomitable  courage,  insight,  universal  sympathy, — 
with  that  programme  opening  our  hearts  to  every  candid  sug 
gestion,  listening  to  all  the  voices  of  the  nation,  trying  to 
bring  in  a  new  day  of  vision  and  of  achievement. 


A  CITIZEN  OP  NO  MEAN  COUNTRY 

( A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

HON.   FRANK   HAMLIN 

THE  ancient  knew  no  prouder  boast  than  to  be  a  Eoman 
citizen,  and  Saul  of  Tarsus  obtained  permission  to 
speak  to  the  captain  of  the  guard  when  he  said,  "I  am  a 
citizen  of  Silesia,  which  is  a  Roman  province,  a  citizen  of  no 
mean  country." 

We  are  met  to  celebrate  the  one  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  the  great  Commoner  of  Illinois.  As  citizens 
of  no  mean  country,  we  rejoice  in  this  opportunity  to  pay  our 
measure  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  greatest  of 
our  leaders.  It  is  eminently  appropriate  and  fitting  that  we 
should  do  this.  But  in  the  proper  sense,  following  the  words 
of  President  Lincoln's  great  Gettysburg  speech,  it  is  rather 
for  us  to  be  dedicated  to  those  great  purposes  for  which  the 
martyred  President  gave  his  life,  for  liberty,  for  righteous 
ness,  for  the  preservation  of  the  American  Republic.  We 
cannot  honor  him  more  than  by  following  his  example  in 
the  material  essentials  of  life.  The  striking  characteristic 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  his  simplicity,  his  rugged  honesty. 
It  has  been  well  said  by  an  eloquent  orator  of  the  present 
day,  it  has  been  aptly  said,  that  a  college  is  the  place  where 
pebbles  are  brightened  and  where  diamonds  are  dimmed. 
While  I  cannot  say  that  I  thoroughly  agree  with  this,  it  is 
probably  true  that  Abraham  Lincoln's  development  was 
broader  and  stronger  than  it  ever  could  have  been  under 
the  mere  conventional  trainings  of  life,  and  I  am  sure,  at 
least,  that  to  be  eminently  great,  to  be  sublime  in  the  sense 
in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  sublime,  it  is  essential  that  one 
should  be  absolutely  simple,  as  he  was  simple  in  mind  and 
character  alike. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  an  optimist;  he  was  a  believer  in 

31 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

men,  because  his  character  was  a  touchstone  which  drew 
the  best  from  every  one  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 
But,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  most  inspiring  thought  which  is 
associated  with  this  commemoration,  is  the  fact  that  we  see 
one  great  united  nation,  forgetful  of  any  sectional  prejudice, 
joining  in  affectionate  regard  to  offer  its  tribute  to  the  mem 
ory  of  our  martyred  President.  Is  it  not,  in  fact,  as  if  the 
great  American  Commonwealth  here  highly  resolved  that 
those  ideals  which  Abraham  Lincoln  advocated  all  his  life, 
that  government  "by  the  people,  of  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,"  should  not  perish  from  the  earth? 


THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  LINCOLN 

HON.  J.  A.  MACDONALD 

AMONG  the  men  born  of  American  women,  there  has  not 
arisen  a  greater  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  is  fitting 
that  throughout  this  Republic,  from  the  capital  to  the  re 
motest  pioneer  hamlet,  his  name  should  this  day  be  lifted 
high  in  loving  memory.  The  honor  of  that  name  is  the  price 
less  heritage  of  every  State  in  this  great  Union,  whose  in 
tegrity  he  maintained  and  whose  flag  he  saved  from  shame. 

But  if  the  people  of  other  States  raise  their  voices  in  this 
centennial  celebration  with  pride  and  grateful  praise,  how 
much  more  you — you  people  of  Illinois,  whose  State  gave 
him  the  nation ;  you  citizens  of  Chicago,  whose  city  witnessed 
his  first  nomination  to  the  Presidency — how  much  more 
should  you  cherish  the  name  of  Lincoln  as  the  honorable 
birthright  of  yourselves  and  your  children ;  and — 

"For  many  and  many  an  age  proclaim 
At  civic  revel  and  pomp  and  game, 
With  honor,  honor,  honor  to  him, 
Eternal  honor  to  his  name!  " 

The  smoke  of  war  has  long  since  cleared  away.  Even  the 
darker  clouds  of  ignorance  and  selfishness  and  suspicion  that 
blinded  the  eyes  and  hardened  the  hearts  of  men  on  both 
sides,  and  made  not  only  the  Revolution,  but  the  Civil  War 
inevitable,  have  been  shot  through  with  the  straight  white 
light  of  reason  and  charity  and  truth.  The  men  of  the 
South  to-day  appreciate  the  work  and  venerate  the  memory 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  even  as  the  men  of  the  North  are 
coming  to  honor  the  heroism  and  courage  and  personal  worth 
of  those  genuine  patriots  and  noble  leaders,  Robert  E.  Lee 
and  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  We  meet  as  the  reconciled  mem 
bers  of  one  great  family,  all  enriched  by  the  memories  of  each, 
3  33 


34,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  heirlooms  of  one  being  the  treasures  of  all.  We  come, 
all  you  of  the  blue,  and  you,  too,  of  the  gray,  and  we  of  the 
red-coat  and  kilted  tartan,  heritors  of  the  same  history, 
sharers  in  the  same  freedom,  sons  of  the  same  blood;  and  in 
the  speech  that  sways  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Arctic  Sea  we 
pay  our  tribute  of  honor,  and  reverence,  and  love  to  the 
memory  of  that  greatest  world-citizen  this  continent  has 
known.  For  among  the  men  born  of  American  women,  there 
has  not  arisen  a  greater  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  tell  the  story  of  Lincoln's  life,  the  inci 
dents  of  his  great  career,  or  the  traditions  that  gather  around 
his  name.  All  of  that  has  been  done  again  and  again  in 
every  Lincoln  renascence  that  has  marked  each  decade  since 
his  day.  It  is  being  done  to-day  by  those  who  knew  him 
face  to  face.  It  is  not  for  me  to  come  from  Canada  to 
Illinois  to  recite  Lincoln  anecdotes,  or  to  pronounce  a  Lincoln 
eulogy.  Not  as  a  neighbor,  not  as  an  acquaintance,  not  as 
a  citizen  of  the  same  State  or  of  the  same  nation,  may  I 
speak  of  him  as  many  might  speak.  To  me  he  stands  out, 
not  in  the  softened  light  of  personal  friendship,  not  even 
with  the  glorifying  halo  of  patriotic  devotion  on  his  brow. 
From  the  long  range  of  another  land,  from  under  the  shadow 
of  another  flag,  I  see  him  stand  in  the  great  perspective  of 
world-history,  not  merely  the  citizen  of  your  State,  or  the 
saviour  of  your  Republic,  but  Lincoln,  the  world-citizen ;  Lin 
coln,  the  man  whose  name  spells  freedom  in  every  land.  And 
for  that  Lincoln,  one  of  the  few  immortals  of  his  age  and 
land,  I  profess  the  reverence  which  the  nobleness  of  his  char 
acter  and  the  heroism  of  his  life  must  ever  command  from 
you  of  this  Republic  and  from  us,  too,  of  the  Canadian  Do 
minion.  Into  our  Canadian  lives  he  came  as  a  mighty  inspi 
ration,  and  our  childhood's  lips  were  taught  to  speak  his 
name  with  that  respect  we  paid  our  own  good  and  gracious 
Queen. 

I  recall  as  vividly  as  if  it  were  yesterday  the  night  in 
that  fateful  week  of  April,  1865,  when  into  my  childhood's 
home,  on  a  pioneer  farm  cut  out  of  the  primeval  forest  of 
Middlesex  County,  in  Upper  Canada,  The  Toronto  Globe  came, 


Bronze  Tablet  Placed  on  the  Site  of  the  "Wigwam,"  Chicago, 

by   the  Chicago   Chapter,  Daughters   of   the 

American   Revolution 


o>      ^      a 

g>  I  i 


If  ? 


gl 


II 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  35 

bordered  in  black.  Its  story  read  aloud  in  the  family  circle 
brought  pain  and  grief  to  Canadian  hearts.  So  it  came  that 
my  very  earliest  knowledge  of  your  country  and  its  history 
was  in  that  tragic  martyrdom  at  Washington,  and  the  very 
first  name  outside  that  backwoods  settlement  in  Canada  to 
be  inscribed  indelibly  on  my  boyhood's  honor  roll  was  the 
name  of  your  own  illustrious  Lincoln. 

The  theme  which  I  choose  is  this:  The  Significance  of 
Lincoln.  I  would  have  you  stand  with  me  for  a  little,  not  so 
close  to  that  life  as  to  lose  the  sense  of  its  great  proportions, 
but  not  so  far  away  as  to  miss  the  meaning  and  the  majesty 
of  its  radiating  power.  If  I  express  some  things  with  which 
some  may  not  agree — and  that  must  be  so — it  is  because  I 
am  free  to  voice  honest  convictions  with  unreserve  in  the 
presence  of  free  and  honest  men. 

I  would  have  you  consider  the  significance  of  Lincoln,  the 
meaning  of  his  life,  and  the  reach  of  his  influence,  in  the 
century  to  which  he  belonged,  and  in  this  larger  century  that 
reaps  the  harvests  which  he  sowed. 

First,  consider  the  significance  of  Lincoln  to  democracy  in 
North  America.  I  mean  Canada  as  well  as  the  United  States. 
And  by  democracy  I  mean,  not  any  party  form  or  political 
organization,  but,  in  the  words  made  immortal  by  Lincoln 
at  Gettysburg,  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people. " 

On  this  continent,  democracy  is  being  worked  out  through 
republican  forms  in  the  United  States,  and  through  forms 
adapted  to  monarchical  institutions  in  Canada.  In  both 
countries  it  is  democracy.  The  democratic  spirit  takes  little 
account  of  mere  names  and  forms. 

Take  the  situation  presented  in  your  own  United  States. 
What  is  the  significance  of  Lincoln  in  relation  to  the  main 
tenance  and  the  extension  of  "government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people"  in  this  Republic?  What  con 
tribution  did  he  make?  What  did  he  save  that  might  have 
been  lost? 

For  one  thing,  he  served  democracy  by  the  very  fact  of  his 
life,  by  the  potency  of  his  teaching,  by  the  force  of  his  ex- 


36  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ample.  He  was  by  Nature's  law  a  man  of  the  people.  He 
gloried  in  his  kinship  with  the  "plain  people. "  Not  because 
he  was  born  in  a  rude  Kentucky  cabin;  not  because  his  early 
life  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  was  spent  in  sordid  poverty — 
democracy  on  the  one  hand,  like  aristocracy  on  the  other, 
is  not  a  thing  of  external  conditions,  but  of  the  very  spirit 
and  purpose  and  essence  of  a  man's  life.  By  birth  and 
instinct  and  personal  equation  George  Washington  was  an 
aristocrat  to  his  finger-tips.  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  the  mar 
row  of  his  bones  and  through  all  the  texture  of  his  thinking, 
was  a  man  of  the  people. 

Lincoln  knew  the  people's  problem  from  within.  By  in 
tuition  he  understood  their  case  and  took  their  side.  In  those 
early  Sangamon  County  days  he  knew  nothing  of  the  teach 
ing  of  the  schools  on  political  economy,  or  the  social  problem, 
or  the  ethical  standard,  but  by  unerring  instinct  he  made 
his  choice.  It  was  the  spirit  of  inborn,  true  democracy  that 
spoke  through  him,  when,  a  raw  youth  in  his  teens,  thirty 
years  before  he  saw  the  White  House,  he  looked  for  the  first 
time  on  the  hard  and  ugly  fact  of  slavery,  and  in  the  slave- 
market  of  New  Orleans  swore:  "  If  ever  I  get  a  chance 
to  hit  that  thing,  I  '11  hit  it  hard,  by  the  Eternal  God!"  It 
was  his  incurable  sense  of  the  rights  of  man  that  impelled 
him  in  early  manhood  to  declare  himself  the  champion  of  the 
unprivileged  and  the  voiceless,  " until,"  as  he  foretold, 
"everywhere  in  this  broad  land  the  sun  shall  shine,  and  the 
rain  shall  fall,  and  the  wind  shall  blow  upon  no  man  that 
goes  forth  to  unrequited  toil."  As  the  sinewy  arrow  goes 
straight  to  its  aim,  so  his  mind  struck  home  to  the  heart 
of  the  age-long  problem  of  capital  and  labor  in  all  lands  when 
he  protested  that  "no  man  shall  eat  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
another  man's  brow."  He  had  not  studied  constitutional 
history,  or  traced  the  rise  and  fall  of  world  kingdoms  and 
commonwealths,  but  he  put  the  essential  wisdom  of  all  the 
centuries  of  government  into  that  memorable  saying  in  his 
senatorial  campaign  in  Chicago  in  1858:  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.  This  government  cannot  per 
manently  endure  half  slave  and  half  free. ' '  By  such  teaching, 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  37 

by  the  example  that  enforced  it,  by  the  life  that  inspired  it, 
Lincoln  gave  proof  of  his  ingrained  democracy  while  he  was, 
as  yet,  unknown  outside  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  before 
the  dream  of  the  White  House  shaped  his  way. 

Lincoln  was  significant  and  his  life  told  for  good  to  de 
mocracy  in  the  United  States  by  reason  of  his  steadfastness 
in  the  cause  of  union  against  the  fallacies  of  Secessionists 
in  the  South  and  the  impatience  of  Abolitionists  in  the 
North. 

No  man  ever  faced  a  task  more  tremendous  at  a  time  more 
critical  than  did  Abraham  Lincoln  when  he  was  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  in  Chicago  in  1860. 
No  man  ever  put  his  hand  to  an  undertaking  fraught  with 
peril  to  interests  so  vast  as  did  Lincoln  on  the  day  of  his 
inauguration  at  Washington  in  1861.  No  man  ever  found  the 
way  of  duty  more  beset  with  disappointment  and  seeming 
defeat  than  did  Lincoln  during  those  four  awful  years  of 
power,  with  their  cabal  and  conflict  and  unspeakable  carnage. 
With  the  ruler  of  a  nation  it  is  not  a  question  of  monarchy 
or  of  democracy.  Coronation  by  the  crowd  secures  no  im 
munity  from  the  sorrows  of  the  king.  Lincoln,  as  surely  and 
as  sadly  as  any  throned  monarch,  had  to  pay  the  price  and 
drink  the  cup. 

He  was  called  to  be  the  chief  executive  of  the  nation,  only 
to  find  the  nation  divided;  to  be  President  of  the  United 
States,  only  to  find  those  States  no  longer  united.  Secession 
had  already  sown  the  seeds  of  disunion.  State  after 
State  had  broken  away.  Long  before  the  first  gun  was 
fired  on  Fort  Sumter,  Lincoln  saw  the  foreshadow  of 
coming  events.  Other  men  might  deceive  themselves  and 
might  deceive  the  people  with  cries  of  "Peace,  Peace!" 
when  there  could  be  no  peace.  Other  men  in  the  North 
as  well  as  in  the  South,  among  the  Abolitionists  as 
well  as  among  the  planters,  might  be  ready  and  even  eager 
to  let  secession  have  its  way  and  to  give  to  the  slave  States 
confederate  autonomy  as  a  new  Republic.  But  with  Lincoln 
it  could  not  be  so.  He  saw  too  deeply  into  the  current  of 
events  to  dream  of  peace  for  a  nation  half  slave  and  half 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

free.  He  took  too  seriously  Ms  own  responsibilities  as  the 
constitutional  President  of  the  American  Republic  to  stand 
idly  by  while  disunion  and  disintegration  were  destroying 
that  Republic  and  frustrating  every  pledge  of  freedom  that 
George  Washington  and  Thomas  'Jefferson  and  Alexander 
Hamilton  had  given  to  the  world.  In  the  midst  of  all  those 
cross-currents  of  opinion  and  that  confusion  of  tongues  and 
that  panic  of  public  feeling  Lincoln  alone  stood  erect,  master 
of  the  situation,  his  nerve  steady,  his  head  clear,  his  heart 
unmoved. 

Lincoln  did  for  democracy  in  the  United  States  what 
needed  to  be  done,  what  had  not  been  done  at  the  beginning, 
and  what  sooner  or  later  had  to  be  done,  when  he  stood  for 
that  ideal  of  the  Republic  which  involved  federal  sovereignty 
over  the  uniting  States  and  made  secession  mean  treason 
and  civil  war.  The  limitation  of  State  sovereignty  was  not 
settled  by  the  Constitution.  The  question  was  obscured:  it 
was  evaded.  Had  it  been  pressed  to  the  forefront,  some  of 
the  States  might  not  have  come  in, — had  they  known  they 
could  not  go  out.  There  was,  at  least,  an  arguable  case  for 
secession  in  the  equivocal  language  of  the  Constitution,  as 
well  as  in  the  fact  and  the  fortunes  of  the  Revolution.  Time 
might  have  solved  the  problem  had  the  aggressions  of  slavery 
not  raised  the  issue.  But  once  raised,  it  had  to  be  faced. 
Lincoln  faced  it.  And  in  facing  it  and  settling  it,  he  estab 
lished  the  fabric  of  democracy  in  the  United  States  on  con 
stitutional  foundations  that  cannot  be  moved. 

And  the  statesmanship  of  Lincoln  saved  democracy  when 
he  stood  first  of  all  for  the  Union,  for  its  honor,  for  its 
integrity,  for  its  supreme  claim  upon  the  loyalty  of  every 
citizen  in  every  State.  He  refused,  as  surely  as  the  Seces 
sionists  refused,  to  make  slavery  the  issue  of  the  War.  Lin 
coln  and  his  Cabinet  and  the  leaders  of  the  North  said  they 
fought  to  save  the  Union.  'Jefferson  Davis  and  the  leaders 
of  the  South  said  they  fought  for  State  rights.  They  all 
said  it  was  not  slavery.  Both  sides  gave  assurances  to  Eng 
land  that  it  was  not  slavery.  Lincoln  knew  too  well  that, 
notwithstanding  the  fiery  propagandism  of  the  apostles  of 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  89 

abolition,  the  time  had  not  yet  come  when  even  the  North 
would  pay  the  awful  and  inescapable  price  that  the  slaves 
might  be  free.  The  shame  and  sin  of  the  slave  traffic  had 
indeed  entered  as  an  iron  into  many  a  soul.  The  cup  of  its 
iniquity  was  indeed  full.  But  there  was  a  pause  before  the 
blow  fell.  There  had  to  come  a  crisis  and  a  challenge.  Be 
fore  the  war-cloud  had  spent  itself,  the  ultimatum  of  the 
South,  making  the  rights  of  slavery  the  supreme  and  irre 
versible  issue,  flashed  a  revealing  light  in  the  faces  of  the 
North.  In  that  light  the  slave  power  showed  its  true  visage, 
stripped,  unmistakable,  the  relentless  enemy  not  of  the  negro 
alone  but  of  the  nation  as  well. 

To  save  the  Union,  not  to  destroy  slavery,  was  the  burden 
of  Lincoln's  first  inauguration  message.  When  the  first  guns 
of  rebellion  were  fired  on  Fort  Sumter,  to  save  the  Union, 
not  to  free  the  slaves,  was  the  burden  of  Lincoln's  call  to 
arms.  That  call  was  answered  by  the  men  of  Massachusetts, 
who  marched  through  Maryland  to  the  Potomac,  blazing  the 
way  for  that  mighty  host  that  never  returned.  After  long 
months  of  humiliation  and  havoc  and  slaughter,  Lincoln's 
call  for  men,  for  four  hundred  thousand  men,  to  save  the 
Union  had  a  new  note  of  urgency.  But  his  trust  in  the 
plain  people  was  abundantly  rewarded.  Their  answer  echoed 
from  every  hilltop  and  through  every  valley  of  your  North 
ern  States,  from  Maine  to  California, — 

"We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham, 
Six  hundred  thousand  strong." 

But  Lincoln  did  more  for  democracy  in  the  United  States 
than  to  save  the  Union.  Union  was  not  enough.  There  must 
be  freedom  as  well.  And  to  be  born  free  must  mean  more 
than  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  as  yet  made  it 
mean.  It  must  mean  freedom,  not  for  some  of  the  people, 
not  even  for  a  majority  of  the  people,  but  for  all  the  people. 
Democracy  and  slavery  cannot  join  hands.  Between  them 
there  must  be  an  "irrepressible  conflict. " 

It  was  the  old  story.  That  conflict  belongs  to  all  the  ages 
of  human  progress.  The  struggle  between  South  and  North 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

in  this  Republic  was  not  an  accident.  Lincoln  was  not  re 
sponsible  for  it.  Southern  slavery  was  the  occasion  of  it,  not 
the  cause.  Its  roots  ran  far  back  into  that  old-world  civili 
zation  from  which  North  and  South  alike  drew  their  ideals 
and  their  life.  It  was  the  struggle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
in  England  over  again.  It  was  the  Cavalier  against  the 
Roundhead,  as  of  old.  The  high-born  royalists  of  King 
Charles  left  behind  them  the  forms  of  monarchy,  but  they 
brought  with  them  to  Virginia  the  aristocratic  spirit  and  the 
social  ideal  that  made  negro  servitude  in  the  South  not  only 
a  privilege,  but  a  right.  The  men  of  the  Mayflower  brought 
to  New  England  the  Puritan  impulse,  and  it  was  that  inex 
tinguishable  spark  of  democracy  that  disturbed  the  soul  of 
the  North.  Between  these  two,  sooner  or  later,  conflict  had  to 
come  in  America,  as  it  came  two  centuries  before  in  England. 
Slavery  was  the  occasion,  human  rights  against  class-privilege 
was  the  issue. 

When  the  time  was  ripe,  Lincoln  struck  the  blow.  The 
men  who  signed  the  Declaration  and  who  framed  the  Con 
stitution  blinked  the  slave  question.  Had  it  been  possible 
to  save  the  Union  and  to  retain  slavery,  Lincoln  might  have 
blinked  it,  too.  But  it  could  not  be.  The  nature  of  things 
was  against  it.  The  democracy  that  declared  all  men  to 
be  "born  free  and  equal"  gave  the  lie  to  the  defiant  fallacy 
of  the  slave-holding  aristocracy  that  man  can  hold  property 
in  man.  The  Puritan  conscience  of  New  England  saved  the 
ideals  of  the  Republic  until  the  rail-splitter  from  Illinois 
drove  the  wedge  of  truth  into  the  heart  of  the  problem  and 
split  off  the  planter  oligarchy  from  the  life-trunk  of  Ameri 
can  democracy. 

The  time  had  surely  come  when  democracy  in  the  United 
States  must  needs  justify  itself  alike  to  its  own  children 
and  to  the  world.  It  was  not  enough  to  point  to  an  academic 
and  speculative  declaration  that  "all  men  are  born  free  and 
equal,"  when,  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  three  millions 
of  human  beings  went  out  to  "unrequited  toil."  It  was 
not  enough  to  talk  loftily  of  "the  land  of  the  free,"  and  to 
echo  Jefferson's  tirades  against  monarchy,  when,  nearly  a 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  41 

century  after  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  only  land  on  all  this  continent  of  North  America  in 
which  in  very  truth  all  men  were  born  free  was  under  mon- 
archial  government;  and  the  only  flag  that  gave  protection 
to  all  classes,  without  respect  of  race  or  color,  was  the  Union 
Jack.  It  cost  treasure  and  it  cost  blood  to  wipe  out  that 
stain,  but  in  wiping  it  out  Lincoln  justified  American  de 
mocracy  before  the  nations  of  the  world. 

But  Lincoln  was  more  than  a  leader  of  his  people.  He 
was  their  diplomat.  One  of  his  greatest  services  to  democ 
racy  in  the  United  States  was  in  the  strength  and  steadiness 
with  which  he  withstood  the  clamant  pressure  of  the  crowd, 
even  of  the  crowd  that  made  him  President.  In  matters 
of  diplomacy  he  gave  democracy  worthy  grounds  for  en 
during  self-respect  at  home  and  he  added  permanently  to  its 
prestige  abroad.  In  his  relations  with  other  nations  he  so 
conducted  himself  that  the  Crowd,  almost  in  spite  of  itself, 
was  given  dignity  in  the  presence  of  the  Crown. 

This  meant  much  for  the  credit  of  democracy,  for  it  was  in 
matters  of  diplomacy  that  its  enemies  said  democracy  would 
be  disproved.  It  would  not  have  been  strange  had  Lincoln 
failed.  He  was  himself  a  man  of  the  crowd.  The  crowd 
is  notoriously  the  victim  of  impulse  and  emotion ;  the  crowd- 
spirit  knows  no  law  and  brooks  no  check.  Again  and  again 
the  tumult  of  the  people  surged  about  Lincoln  on  the  slavery 
question,  on  the  management  of  the  War,  on  problems  of 
policies,  and  on  the  delicate  and  critical  affairs  of  foreign 
relations.  It  would  not  have  been  strange  had  he  been  stam 
peded  ;  others  have  been,  before  his  day  and  since.  That  he, 
a  man  of  the  people,  the  incarnation  of  the  powers  and 
instinct  and  genius  of  the  plain  people — that  he  stood  erect, 
worthy  of  his  nation's  honor,  commanding  respect  from  for 
eign  nations  and  recognition  from  their  monarchs,  was  a 
service  to  government  by  the  people  which  the  people  them 
selves  at  first  resented  in  anger  and  even  yet  are  slow  to  ap 
preciate  and  understand. 

Conspicuously  true  was  this  early  in  the  War  when  relations 
with  the  British  Government  were  uncertain,  if  not  strained. 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Had  Secretary  of  State  Seward's  despatch  been  sent  un- 
revised  by  Lincoln,  those  relations  might  have  been  not 
only  strained,  but  broken.  Had  Lincoln  not  withstood  the 
lawless  indignation  of  the  whole  North,  and  released  the  two 
Confederate  envoys,  Mason  and  Slidell,  taken  prisoners  from 
aboard  the  British  mail-packet  Trent,  war  would  have  been 
inevitable.  On  the  other  hand,  had  the  offensive  message  of 
Lord  Palmerston  been  sent  unrevised  by  Queen  Victoria, 
war, — war  that,  in  Sherman's  phrase,  would  indeed  have 
been  "hell"  for  the  world, — could  not  have  been  averted. 
By  the  strength,  and  wisdom,  and  humanity  of  the  President 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  Queen  on  the  other,  peace  was 
maintained.  Republicanism  and  Royalty  at  their  summits 
joined  hands.  In  that  dread  hour  of  crisis,  Lincoln,  the 
people 's  man  from  Illinois,  took  his  place  in  world  diplomacy, 
not  beside  the  Prime  Minister  of  Britain,  but  beside  Her  Im 
perial  Majesty,  the  Queen.  Then  was  democracy  justified 
of  her  children. 

Turn  now  to  the  Canadian  situation.  What  is  the  signifi 
cance  of  Lincoln  for  democracy  in  the  Dominion?  "Was 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  in 
Canada  served  in  any  significant  way  by  the  life  he  lived  and 
the  service  he  rendered  to  democracy  in  the  United  States  ? 

It  is  quite  true  Lincoln  knew  almost  nothing  at  all  about 
Canada.  He  never  set  foot  on  Canadian  soil.  He  had  no 
direct  interest  in  Canadian  problems.  But  a  life  so  vital 
as  his  could  not  be  lived  to  itself  or  to  the  people  of  his 
own  country  alone.  Sovereignty  stops  at  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  international  boundary  line,  but  the  masterful  life 
overleaps  all  such  limitations.  The  man  is  greater  than  the 
ruler.  In  Abraham  Lincoln,  Canada  has  had  an  inheritance 
that  through  a  half -century  has  made  for  the  enrichment  of 
public  life  and  the  redemption  of  public  service. 

The  Canadian  situation  cannot  be  understood,  and  the 
significance  of  Lincoln  for  Canadian  democracy  cannot  be 
appreciated,  unless  there  is  kept  in  mind  the  Canadian  strug 
gle  for  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people.  That  struggle  was  not  an  isolated  case  in  history. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  43 

It  was  only  one  of  a  long  series  of  conflicts  characteristic  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  It  bore  the  unmistakable  marks 
of  the  Revolution  in  England  under  Cromwell,  and  the  Revo 
lution  in  America  under  Washington.  The  conflict  in  your 
Civil  War  between  the  oligarchy  of  the  South  and  the 
democratic  ideals  of  the  North  had  its  counterpart  in  Canada. 
We,  too,  had  the  seed  of  the  Cavalier  of  King  Charles,  and 
from  your  own  South,  as  well  as  from  England,  Canada  re 
ceived  her  share  of  the  high-bred  aristocracy.  That  seed 
grew  into  class-privilege,  and  ripened  into  an  autocracy  as 
exclusive  and  insolent  as  anything  Southern  aristocracy  or 
old-world  Toryism  could  show.  And  over  against  it,  with 
us  as  with  you,  there  was  set  the  restless,  new-born  democ 
racy  of  the  Puritan,  and  the  Non-conformist,  and  the  rugged 
Cameronian.  Conflict  was  inevitable. 

In  Canada,  the  conflict  came  a  generation  earlier  than  in 
the  United  States.  It  was  in  1837,  the  first  year  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Victoria,  that  the  seething  discontent  of  the  people 
against  injustice  and  tyranny  found  expression  in  the  re 
bellion  of  Louis  Papineau  in  Lower  Canada,  and  of  William 
Lyon  Mackenzie  in  Upper  Canada.  That  rebellion  was  sup 
pressed  with  little  bloodshed,  but  the  power  of  the  oligarchy 
was  broken.  The  rights  for  which  the  people  fought  were 
abundantly  granted  in  1840,  when  Canada  was  given,  not 
merely  representative  government,  but,  what  we  prize  far 
more,  government  directly  and  immediately  responsible  to 
Parliament.  What  was  won  for  democracy  in  the  United 
States  on  the  battlefields  of  the  Revolution,  and  more  truly 
in  the  Civil  War,  was  secured  for  democracy  in  Canada  in 
the  Parliament  of  the  nation.  But  at  bottom  the  struggle 
was  the  same. 

Now,  the  fact  of  that  Canadian  struggle,  the  elements  rep 
resented  in  it,  and  the  issues  of  it,  must  be  kept  in  mind  by 
those  who  would  understand  the  attitude  of  Canadians  to 
Lincoln  and  the  Civil  War.  Of  course,  Canada  was  not  a 
unit  on  that  question,  even  as  England  was  not  a  unit,  and 
the  North  itself  not  a  unit.  In  all  these  countries  there  was, 
and  still  is,  the  contending  of  opposite  types  and  tendencies. 


44  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

There  were  in  Canada  and  among  Canadians  those  who  sym 
pathized  with  the  South,  whose  affinities  were  with  the  South, 
and  who  wished  the  South  to  win.  There  were  those,  too, 
who  believed  then,  and  still  believe,  that  the  logic  of  Consti 
tution  was  with  the  Secessionists  of  the  South,  but  who,  for 
humanity's  sake,  desired,  unreservedly,  passionately,  that  the 
logic  of  the  War  should  make  good  the  cause  of  the  North. 
For  the  people  of  Canada,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the 
century,  longed  and  prayed,  and  when  the  time  came  not  a 
few  of  them  fought  and  died,  that  the  accursed  mountain  of 
human  slavery  might  be  dug  away  forever  from  the  face  of 
this  American  continent. 

Canada  once  had  a  taste  of  negro  slavery.  When  the 
Loyalists  of  the  Revolution  chose  the  old  flag  rather  than 
the  new,  they  were  permitted  to  bring  their  property  with 
them  to  Canada.  That  was  before  the  days  of  parliamentary 
institutions  in  the  Canadian  colonies.  By  a  special  Act  of 
the  British  Parliament  slaves  as  slaves  were  brought  to  Can 
ada  from  the  slave  States.  But  the  ''peculiar  institution" 
of  the  South  was  shortlived  in  Canada.  The  first  Parlia 
ment  of  Upper  Canada  was  established  in  1792,  and  in  1793, 
in  the  Navy  Hall,  Niagara,  the  first  act  of  that  first  Parlia 
ment  made  for  the  total  abolition  of  slavery.  That  act  was 
drawn  by  the  newly  appointed  Chief  Justice  Osgoode,  and 
was  signed  by  Governor  Simcoe,  with  a  grateful  heart.  It 
forbade  the  importation  of  slaves,  and  their  sale  under  process 
of  law.  The  relation  between  master  and  slave,  a  mild, 
patriarchal  relationship,  was  allowed  to  continue,  to  the  slave 's 
very  great  advantage;  but  the  children  of  the  slave  were 
free. 

From  the  passing  of  that  Act  in  1793  until  Lincoln's  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  in  1863,  Canada  was  the  sanctuary  for 
the  hunted  runaways  from  the  slave  States.  It  is  a  story  full 
of  pathos,  of  infinite  tragedy,  and  of  heroism  forever  honor 
ing  to  human  nature. 

At  first  Canada  was  far  away,  and  there  was  safety  in  the 
free  States  of  the  North.  But  in  1851,  the  slave  power  was 
enthroned  at  Washington,  and  enforced  the  Fugitive  Slave 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  45 

Act.  From  that  time  on  there  was  no  safe  place,  not  in 
Chicago,  not  even  in  Boston  itself,  for  the  fugitive  from 
slavery.  It  was  on  to  Canada,  or  back  with  Legree  and  the 
lash.  Between  the  Ohio  River  and  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie 
there  stretched  a  vast  and  trackless  forest,  but  the  thought 
of  freedom  was  sweet  even  to  the  ignorant  negro  slave,  and 
many  hunted  refugees  took  the  blazed  trail  that  led  to  liberty. 
It  is  one  of  your  own  American  writers  of  the  slave  history 
who  says:  " Early  in  the  century  the  rumor  gradually 
spread  among  the  negroes  of  the  Southern  States  that  there 
was,  far  away,  under  the  North  Star,  a  land  where  the  flag 
of  the  Union  did  not  float;  where  the  law  declared  all  men 
free  and  equal;  where  the  people  respected  the  law,  and  the 
government,  if  need  be,  enforced  it." 

It  is  estimated  that  more  than  sixty  thousand  negro  slaves 
found  freedom  when  they  touched  Canadian  soil.  The  cel 
ebrated  "  Underground  Railroad"  traversed  the  Northern 
States  with  its  network  of  secret  trails,  its  southern  terminals 
far-flung  from  Kansas  to  the  Atlantic  along  the  Missouri, 
the  Ohio,  and  the  Chesapeake,  its  couriers  in  the  cottonfields 
and  the  plantations  of  the  South,  and  its  northern  terminals 
at  Collingwood  and  Sarnia  and  Windsor  and  Amherstburg 
and  Pelee  and  Port  Stanley  and  Port  Burwell  and  Niagara 
and  Hamilton  and  Toronto  and  Kingston  and  Montreal  and 
Halifax.  None  of  your  modern  railroad  kings  has  so  grid- 
ironed  the  land  or  shown  greater  enterprise  or  downright 
courage.  John  Brown,  of  immortal  memory,  constructed  his 
own  branch  line  of  that  ' '  Underground  Railroad, ' '  from  Mis 
souri  through  Iowa  and  Illinois  and  Michigan,  and  made  many 
a  trip  to  Canada  before  "he  died  at  Harper's  Ferry  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  June";  and,  though  his  body  was  left 
"mouldering  in  the  grave,"  over  those  mysterious  lines  by 
which  the  slave  might  be  free,  "his  soul  went  marching  on." 

To  the  slaves  Canada  was  Goshen,  not  Canaan.  Many  of 
them  grew  to  comfort  and  prospered.  But  Emancipation 
Day  was  the  day  of  their  deliverance.  From  that  time  they 
began  to  set  their  faces  again  to  the  warm  southland.  Can 
ada  never  would  have  had  the  negro  or  a  negro  problem  had 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

it  not  been  for  slavery.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  law,  but  of  lati 
tude.  In  the  northern  zone  the  thermometer  is  on  the  side  of 
the  white  man. 

Until  Lincoln  broke  the  slave  power  in  the  United  States, 
slavery  was  a  disturbing  factor  in  Canadian  life.  The  solid 
body  of  Canadian  opinion  was  opposed  to  slavery.  With  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  passing  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act  in  1851,  abolitionist  feeling  in  Canada 
became  intensely  strong.  This  was  due  to  one  man  and  his 
work  more  than  all  other  influences — excluding,  perhaps, 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  That  man  was  the  Hon.  George 
Brown.  No  man  knows  anything  of  Canadian  life  and  his 
tory  who  does  not  know  of  George  Brown,  the  founder  and 
first  editor  of  the  Globe.  A  giant  Scot  of  the  sturdiest  type, 
from  the  day  he  arrived  in  Toronto  in  1843  until  the  day  in 
1880  when  in  the  Globe  office  he  fell  by  the  bullet  of  a 
frenzied  assassin,  George  Brown,  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  was 
the  great  tribune  of  the  people.  He  was  the  strong  voice  and 
the  right  arm  of  the  common  people.  More  than  any  other 
man,  he  left  his  impress  on  Canadian  democracy,  and  made 
immovable  the  foundations  of  responsible  government. 

George  Brown  was  a  Liberal  of  the  genuine  Scottish  type. 
He  could  not  but  abhor  slavery.  He  saw  it  at  close  range  in 
the  slave  States.  He  spoke  against  it,  and  he  made  the 
Globe  ring  out  against  it,  long  before  Lincoln's  voice  was 
heard.  He  felt  American  slavery  to  be  a  personal  wrong,  a 
Canadian  burden.  Here  are  some  words  of  his  from  a  speech 
against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  delivered  in  Toronto  in 
March,  1852: 

"The  question  is  asked:  What  have  we  in  Canada  to  do  with 
American  slavery?  We  have  everything  to  do  with  it.  It  is  a  ques 
tion  of  humanity.  It  is  a  question  of  Christianity.  We  have  to  do 
with  it  on  the  score  of  self-protection.  The  leprosy  of  the  atrocious 
system  affects  all  around  it;  it  leavens  the  thoughts,  the  feelings,  the 
institutions  of  the  people  who  touch  it.  It  is  a  barrier  to  liberal  prin 
ciples.  We  are  alongside  this  great  evil;  our  people  mingle  with  it; 
we  are  affected  by  it  now.  In  self-protection  we  are  bound  to  use 
every  effort  for  its  abolition.  And  there  is  another  reason.  We  are 
in  the  habit  of  calling  the  people  of  the  United  States  '  the  Americans  '• 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  47 

but  we,  too,  are  Americans.  On  us,  as  well  as  on  them,  lies  the  duty 
of  preserving  the  honor  of  the  continent.  On  us,  as  on  them,  rests  the 
noble  trust  of  shielding  free  institutions  from  the  reproach  of  modern 
tyrants.  Who  that  looks  at  Europe  given  over  to  the  despots,  and 
with  but  one  little  island  yet  left  to  uphold  the  flag  of  freedom,  can 
reflect  without  emotion  that  the  great  Republic  of  this  continent  nur 
tures  a  despotism  more  debasing  than  them  all?  How  crushingly  the 
upholders  of  tyranny  in  other  lands  must  turn  on  the  friends  of 
liberty!  'Behold  your  free  institutions,'  they  must  say.  'Look  at  the 
American  Republic/  they  must  sneer,  'proclaiming  all  men  to  be  born 
free  and  equal,  and  keeping  nearly  four  millions  of  slaves  in  the  most 
cruel  bondage!"5 

The  man  who  spoke  those  words  in  1852  was  the  dominant 
force  in  Canadian  public  opinion,  the  potent  voice  in  the 
Canadian  Parliament.  His  sentiments  on  slavery  became  the 
strong  convictions  of  the  Canadian  people.  With  what  eager 
ness,  therefore,  was  the  rise  of  Lincoln,  the  new  star  on  your 
western  horizon,  watched  by  the  people  of  Canada.  From 
the  day  of  his  nomination  in  1860  until  his  tragic  death, 
the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  as  highly  honored,  and 
his  course  was  as  intelligently  and  as  anxiously  followed,  by 
the  people  of  the  Dominion  as  by  you  of  the  Republic.  His 
success  was  not  only  yours ;  it  was  ours  as  well. 

When  the  War  broke  out,  feeling  in  Canada  became  acute. 
The  original  elements  of  strife  were  augmented  by  the  inrush 
of  Southerners.  Many  of  the  best  families  in  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  came  for  safety  to  Toronto,  while  their  men  went 
with  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson.  The  planter 
and  the  preacher  came.  Their  runaway  slaves  had  been  there 
already.  Then  came  the  "skedaddler"  from  the  South  and 
the  ''bounty  jumper"  from  the  North.  The  agent  of  the 
Confederate  Government  at  Richmond  had  his  headquarters 
in  Toronto,  and  many  an  escapade  is  told  of  how  despatches 
and  orders  were  carried  to  and  fro  through  the  Northern 
lines.  We  had  also  the  recruiting  sergeants  of  the  North  and 
the  conspirators  from  the  South.  John  Wilkes  Booth  and  his 
allies  developed  their  schemes  in  Montreal.  Bennett  Bur- 
leigh,  now  the  famous  London  war  correspondent,  was  then  a 
daredevil  young  filibuster  operating  between  Montreal  and 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Detroit  in  the  Southern  service,  and  was  ringleader  in  an 
attempt  to  release  twenty-five  thousand  prisoners  from  under 
the  Northern  guns  on  an  island  in  Lake  Erie.  His  trial 
for  extradition  in  Toronto  was  equalled  in  public  interest 
only  by  the  great  trial  of  William  Anderson,  the  negro  run 
away,  in  1860. 

At  the  close  of  the  War  many  of  the  Southern  leaders  found 
in  Toronto  and  about  Niagara  their  temporary  homes,  and 
their  dignity,  courtesy,  and  fine  culture  made  them  welcome 
citizens.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  himself  visited  Toronto  im 
mediately  after  his  release  from  prison,  and  his  wife  made 
her  home  on  the  Canadian  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  there  she 
died  not  long  ago. 

All  these  conflicting  forces,  social  as  well  as  commercial, 
were  at  work  in  Canadian  public  opinion  during  the  four 
years  of  the  War.  A  small  group  remained  stout  supporters 
of  the  Southern  cause,  but  the  great  body  of  Canadian  senti 
ment  was  with  the  North.  While  the  Southern  sympathizers 
were  welcoming  with  cheers  the  poor  old  President  of  the 
overthrown  Confederacy,  at  the  wharf  in  Toronto  in  1867, 
the  children  of  the  schools  throughout  the  country,  as  I  very 
well  remember,  were  singing  on  their  playgrounds, — 

"We'll  hang  Jeff  Davis  on  a  sour  apple  tree, 
As  we  go  marching  on." 

In  a  book  by  a  professor  of  Harvard  University,  published 
only  a  few  months  ago,  I  read  the  statement  that,  "  feeling 
in  the  United  States  was  greatly  incensed  because  of  the 
sympathy  of  Canada  with  the  South  in  the  Civil  War."  My 
comment  on  that  statement  is  that  more  than  forty-eight 
thousand  Canadians  fought  in  the  armies  of  the  North,  and 
eighteen  thousand  of  them  died  for  the  Union  cause.  They 
were  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  the  Army  of  the  James, 
in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennes 
see,  and  in  the  Army  of  the  Rio  Grande.  They  were  with 
Grant  at  Vicksburg.  They  were  with  Thomas  at  Chicka- 
mauga.  They  were  with  Custer  in  the  West.  They  were  with 
Meade  at  Gettysburg.  They  went  through  the  Shenandoah 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  49 

with  Sheridan.  They  marched  with  Sherman  to  the  sea. 
On  every  great  battlefield  between  the  Mississippi  and  Po 
tomac  the  sons  of  Canada  stood  shoulders  together  with  the 
men  of  the  Union.  They  languished  in  Libbey  Prison.  They 
died  in  the  Andersonville  Camp.  They  answered  your  Lin 
coln's  call;  they  followed  your  Stars  and  Stripes;  they  died 
for  your  country's  honor;  but,  in  death  and  in  life,  the  flag 
of  their  hearts  was  the  Union  Jack. 

But  Lincoln's  life  was  significant  for  Canada  in  directions 
other  than  those  suggested  by  slavery  and  the  Civil  War. 
His  stand  for  Federal  authority  as  against  State  sovereignty 
had  its  effect  on  political  opinion  in  Canada.  During  the 
years  of  Lincoln's  regime  the  question  of  the  union  of  the 
Provinces  of  British  North  America  was  under  discussion, 
and  the  Act  of  Confederation  was  passed  in  1867.  The  ex 
perience  in  the  United  States  was  influential  in  Canada.  The 
uncertainty  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic,  of  which 
the  Secessionists  took  advantage,  was  avowedly  and  deliber 
ately  guarded  against  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Canadian  Con 
federation.  They  left  not  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  as  to  Federal 
sovereignty. 

And  Lincoln's  work  in  preserving  the  Union  and  deter 
mining  that  there  would  be  but  one  Republic,  even  though 
he  may  have  strained  the  terms  of  the  Constitution,  was  ap 
proved  by  the  best  Canadian  opinion.  I  quote  again  from 
the  Hon.  George  Brown.  In  a  speech  of  unreserved  congrat 
ulations  on  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation,  in  Toronto 
in  February,  1863,  Mr.  Brown  said : 

"No  man  who  loves  human  freedom  and  desires  the  elevation  of 
mankind  could  contemplate  without  the  deepest  regret  a  failure  of  that 
great  experiment  of  self-government  in  the  United  States.  Had  Mr. 
Lincoln  consented  to  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  had  he  ad 
mitted  that  each  State  could  at  any  moment,  and  on  any  plea,  take 
its  departure  from  the  Union,  he  would  simply  have  given  his  consent 
to  the  complete  rupture  of  the  federation.  The  Southern  States  and 
the  border  States  would  have  gone.  The  Western  States  might  soon 
have  followed.  The  States  on  the  Pacific  would  not  have  been  long 
behind.  Where  the  practice  of  secession,  once  commenced,  would  have 
ended,  would  be  difficult  to  say.  Petty  Republics  would  have  covered 

4 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  continent;  each  would  have  had  its  standing  army  and  its  stand 
ing  feuds;  and  we,  too,  in  Canada,  were  it  only  in  self-defence,  must 
have  been  compelled  to  arm.  I  for  one  cannot  look  back  on  the  his 
tory  of  the  American  Republic  without  feeling  that  all  this  would 
have  been  a  world-wide  misfortune.  How  can  we  ever  forget  that  the 
United  States  territory  has,  for  nearly  a  century,  been  an  ever-open 
asylum  for  the  poor  and  persecuted  from  every  land?  Millions  have 
fled  from  suffering  and  destitution  in  every  corner  of  Europe  to  find 
happy  homes  and  overflowing  prosperity  in  the  Republic.  Is  there  a 
human  being  could  rejoice  that  all  this  should  be  ended?" 

That  was  the  view  of  the  soundest  and  best-informed  Cana 
dian  public  opinion  in  Lincoln's  own  day.  The  years  that 
have  intervened  have  confirmed  that  opinion.  Canadians  of 
to-day  rise  up  and  bless  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  be 
cause  by  him  it  was  determined  that  the  Canadian  Dominion, 
now  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  would  have  to  do  on 
this  continent  not  with  two  Republics,  as  seemed  inevitable, 
not  with  four  as  seemed  possible,  but  with  one  great  Nation, 
along  the  four  thousand  miles  of  international  boundary,  and 
holding  sovereign  sway  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 

For  that  great  fact  in  our  international  relationships  we 
in  Canada  give  thanks  with  you  on  this  Lincoln  Centennial 
day.  All  that  Lincoln  did  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom 
and  guarding  the  sacredness  of  human  rights,  he  did  for  us 
as  for  you.  And  his  own  great  life  is  our  inheritance  as 
well  as  yours.  Under  his  strong  hand  democracy  in  the 
United  States  survived  the  utmost  strain,  and  because  of  that, 
we  in  Canada  are  being  heartened  in  our  great  task  of  lay 
ing  the  foundations  and  erecting  the  structure  of  another 
democracy  on  the  north  half  of  this  continent,  in  which  all 
men  shall  be  born  free  and  equal,  and  where  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  have  another 
chance. 

The  struggle  of  democracy  in  the  United  States  could  not 
but  be  significant  for  Britain.  Democracy  was  the  organizing 
struggle  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  Its  progress  was 
marked  by  the  great  monuments  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
from  the  Magna  Charta  of  King  John  to  the  Reform  Bill  of 
Queen  Victoria.  When  your  Civil  War  broke  out,  the 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  51 

friends  and  the  enemies  of  democracy  in  Britain  took  sides. 
The  aristocracy  of  England  and  the  distinctive  institutions 
of  aristocracy  in  State  and  in  Church  were  on  the  side  of  the 
South.  The  great  masses  of  the  people  were  for  the  cause 
of  the  North.  The  Government  of  the  day  was  Liberal,  and, 
notwithstanding  what  'Justin  McCarthy  calls  "Lord  Palmer- 
ston's  heedless,  unthinking  way,"  was  really  in  sympathy 
with  the  Northern  side. 

This  division  of  opinion  in  England  was  not  generally  un 
derstood  in  the  United  States  at  the  time,  and  is  sometimes 
misrepresented  even  yet.  It  was  a  perfectly  natural  situa 
tion.  Nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  that  the  territorial 
aristocracy  of  England  should  take  sides  with  its  own  off 
spring,  the  aristocracy  of  Virginia,  that  had  transplanted 
to  America  the  same  social  and  ecclesiastical  institutions — 
the  great  family  estate  and  the  established  Church — and 
had  adopted  the  same  cavalier  ideals  of  life  that  distinguished 
the  aristocratic  classes  in  England  for  centuries.  That  nat 
ural  affinity  was  made  to  yield  pronounced  sympathy  by  the 
representatives  of  the  Confederacy,  who  cultivated  the  friend 
ship  of  English  aristocrats  for  the  "gentlemen"  of  the  South 
as  against  the  "merchants  and  mechanics  and  manufactur 
ers"  of  the  North. 

The  commercial  aristocracy  of  England  was  also  favorable 
to  the  Confederacy;  not  that  it  cared  for  the  men  of  the 
South  or  for  secession,  or  for  slavery,  but  because  of  its  de 
pendence  on  "King  Cotton."  When  the  North  blockaded 
the  ports  of  the  Southern  States,  the  entire  supply  of  raw- 
cotton  for  the  mills  was  cut  off,  and  that  greatest  of  all  of 
England's  industries  was  utterly  paralyzed.  Thousands  of 
mills  were  closed.  The  cotton  from  India  could  not  be  worked 
in  the  English  mills.  Men  saw  their  entire  fortunes  swept 
away  because  of  the  interference  of  the  North  with  the  ex 
port  trade  of  the  South.  What  wonder  if  the  commercial 
aristocrats,  like  the  aristocrats  of  blood,  were  out  of  sympa 
thy  with  the  Northern  cause? 

But  the  people  of  England,  the  great  common  people, 
not  with  the  aristocracy.  Their  leaders  and  spokesmen 


52  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

were  not  the  bishops  of  the  Church,  or  the  lords  of  the  manors, 
or  newspapers  like  the  Times.  Once  the  people  knew  that  the 
real  issue  was  slavery,  their  old-time  and  undying  love  of 
liberty  asserted  itself,  and  to  a  man  they  stood  for  the  Union. 
The  true  leaders  of  the  people  were  statesmen  like  Cobden 
and  Bright — Gladstone  had  not  yet  shaken  himself  free  from 
the  entanglements  of  class-privilege  in  which  he  was  born— 
and  scholars  like  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Goldwin  Smith  and  the 
most  eminent  preachers  in  the  Free  Churches  of  both  Eng 
land  and  Scotland.  George  Brown  went  over  from  Canada 
in  1862  and  spent  more  than  six  months  in  a  campaign  in 
all  sections  of  the  United  Kingdom.  His  influence  was  pow 
erful,  not  only  with  the  masses  of  the  people,  but  also  with 
the  great  Liberal  leaders  then  in  control  in  Parliament. 

Let  the  people  of  the  United  States  who  rejoice  to-day  in 
Lincoln's  victory  never  forget  how  much  they  owe  to  the 
common  people  of  England  for  the  final  and  complete  tri 
umph  of  Lincoln's  cause.  It  was  by  no  turn  of  eye,  or  wave 
of  hand,  that  your  kith  beyond  the  sea  joined  in  your  issue 
in  the  conflict.  Within  thirty  miles  round  about  Manchester, 
two  and  a  half  millions  suffered  for  your  cause.  The  spin 
dles  and  looms  of  Lancashire  and  the  other  cotton-mill  coun 
ties  were  silent,  and  the  operatives  day  after  day  were  within 
sight  of  starvation.  They  had  no  work  because  the  cotton 
was  unshipped  in  the  ports  of  the  South.  They  and  their 
families  were  without  bread.  But  not  one  of  them  made  com 
plaint.  One  cry,  and  there  might  have  been  a  riot.  One 
riot,  and  public  opinion  might  have  been  swung  irresistibly 
to  the  side  of  the  aristocracy,  and  either  have  stampeded  the 
Government  or  driven  it  from  office.  A  change  of  Govern 
ment  would  have  meant  Britain's  interference  to  raise  the 
cotton  blockade.  And,  with  France  eager  for  Britain  to  lead 
the  way,  the  appearance  of  the  British  navy  before  the 
blockaded  ports  of  the  South  at  that  crisis-time  in  the  for 
tunes  of  the  North  would  have  meant — what? 

And  why  did  the  people  of  England  care  so  much  for  the 
success  of  the  Union?  It  was  because  they  understood  the 
issue  of  the  struggle  to  be  life  or  death  for  human  rights. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  53 

The  democracy  of  Britain,  that  had  won  its  own  place 
against  the  heavy  odds  of  entrenched  power  and  privilege, 
was  eagerly,  vitally  interested  in  the  struggle  of  government 
by  the  people  in  America.  They  knew  what  was  involved 
not  for  America  alone,  but  for  Britain  as  well.  It  was  the 
life-struggle  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  The  common  peo 
ple  of  England  had  long  heard  the  scoffs  of  the  aristocracy 
against  popular  self-government.  In  those  days,  before  the 
great  Reform  Bill  of  1866,  they  heard  the  enemies  of  the 
people's  rights  sneer  at  your  free  Republic.  They  knew  how 
much  would  be  lost  not  for  you  alone,  but  for  them  and  for 
the  Anglo-Saxon  world,  were  this  great  experiment  of  democ 
racy  in  America  to  fail.  That  it  should  not  fail  they  gladly 
endured  suffering  and  loss  and  hunger  rather  than  give  occa 
sion  for  their  own  Government  and  the  European  powers 
to  interfere  against  the  Union.  In  ways  he  knew  not  of, 
Lincoln's  triumph  heartened  Anglo-Saxon  democracy  and 
brought  one  stage  nearer  the  enfranchisement  of  the  common 
people. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  the  world-significance  of  Lincoln. 
Think  what  his  life  meant  for  the  long,  dark  struggle  of 
the  people  of  Europe  against  tyranny  and  oppression.  All 
down  the  century  they  had  been  coming  by  thousands  from 
under  the  despotic  systems  of  the  Old  World  to  find  freedom 
and  opportunity  on  this  new  continent.  From  France,  from 
Austria,  from  Prussia,  from  Italy,  from  Russia,  from  Turkey, 
they  came.  Some  of  them  were  refugees  from  political  ty 
rants.  Some  of  them  sought  freedom  to  worship  God.  Here 
they  found  an  open  door.  They  learned  the  new  language 
of  liberty.  They  sent  back  to  their  suffering  brethren  in 
Europe  great  words  of  cheer  from  the  land  of  the  free. 
Brave  ones  among  them  went  back,  and,  in  secret,  sowed 
the  seeds  of  democracy  even  in  the  valleys  of  despotism. 
Had  Lincoln  failed,  had  the  Union  been  destroyed,  had  the 
Republic  proved  unequal  to  the  strain  and  burden  of  main 
taining  free  rights  for  a  free  people,  how  the  tyrant-mon- 
archs  of  Europe  would  have  laughed !  How  the  forerunners 
of  European  liberty  would  have  been  staggered!  On  the 


54,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

success  or  the  frustration  of  Lincoln's  task  the  fate  of  de 
mocracy  in  Europe  was  trembling  in  the  balance.  But  Lin 
coln  did  not  fail.  His  venture  for  Union  and  Liberty  tri 
umphed — triumphed  gloriously.  The  reflex  of  that  triumph 
meant  new  hope  for  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  in  Germany,  in  Kussia,  even  in  Turkey  itself. 
A  handful  of  seed  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  and  lo !  the 
fruit  thereof  shakes  like  Lebanon. 

And  not  Europe  alone,  but  Asia  as  well.  In  our  day  the 
Orient,  mysterious,  vast,  potential,  heaves  into  sight  above 
the  skyline.  It  means  something  for  this  Republic  this  very 
day  that  Lincoln  stood  for  the  Union,  and  for  supremacy  of 
national  integrity  over  local  interests.  It  means  something 
for  world-peace  that  this  Eepublic  presents  a  united  front 
to  the  Pacific,  behind  it  a  united  nation,  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
over  every  State,  and  to  the  North  the  Union  Jack.  It  means 
much  for  the  world-brotherhood  that  this  Eepublic  has  not 
only  discovered  its  own  power,  but  is  learning  its  own  duty, 
taking  its  large  share  of  the  great  human  burden,  and  playing 
its  part  for  peace  and  good-will  to  the  world. 

And  this — this  service  to  democracy  in  America,  to  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization,  to  the  peace  and  progress  of  the  world — 
is  what  I  mean  by  the  Significance  of  Lincoln. 

What  was  it  in  this  man  that  gave  his  life  so  great  sig 
nificance  ?  What  was  his  secret  ?  How  came  he  to  speak  with 
such  authority?  Questions  such  as  these  have  been  asked  by 
every  serious  student  of  Lincoln's  career.  But  no  answer,  no 
final  answer,  has  been  given. 

Lincoln's  life  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  ordinary  processes 
of  analysis  and  appreciation.  A  catalogue  of  his  qualities 
does  not  explain  his  life.  Other  men  even  among  his  asso 
ciates  were  gifted  beyond  him  in  cultured  intellect  and  elo 
quence  of  speech.  Other  men  touched  life  at  a  score  of 
points  where  he  touched  it  at  one.  The  horizons  of  life 
and  of  history  for  other  men  were  wide  where  for  him  they 
were  near.  The  study  of  heredity  does  not  explain  Lincoln, 
and  his  environment  offers  no  clue.  Blood  may  tell,  and 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  55 

types  may  persist,  but  not  with  him.  No  one  went  before. 
No  one  followed  after.  He  flourished  alone,  as  a  root  out 
of  a  dry  ground.  In  the  mysterious  laboratory  of  Nature 
he  was  touched  with  the  magic  wand.  That  touch  gave  him 
of  the  fire  of  fires.  In  the  murky  night  of  his  early  years 
there  glowed  that  invisible  flame  within.  In  the  quiet  of  the 
night-time,  through  the  silence  that  is  in  the  starry  sky, 
there  came  to  him  that  long,  far  call.  He  was  not  disobedient 
to  the  heavenly  vision.  He  went  out  not  knowing  whither 
he  went. 

"A  Hand  is  stretched  to  him  from  out  the  dark, 
Which  grasping  without  question,  he  is  led 
Where  there  is  work  that  he  must  do  for  God." 

And  he  went  through  life  as  one  impelled,  haunted  by  a 
sense  of  Destiny,  shadowed  by  a  Presence  that  would  not  be 
put  by.  Men  did  not  know  him  who  heard  only  his  ready 
story  and  his  ringing  laugh.  All  that  was  but  the  phos 
phorescence  playing  on  the  surface ;  the  depths  beneath  were 
dark  and  touched  with  gloom.  He  was  called  to  go  by  the 
sorrowful  way,  bearing  the  awful  burden  of  his  people's 
woe,  the  cry  of  the  uncomforted  in  his  ears,  the  bitterness 
of  their  passion  on  his  heart.  Misunderstood,  misjudged,  he 
was  the  most  solitary  man  of  his  time.  He  had  to  tread 
the  winepress  alone,  and  of  the  people  none  went  with  him. 
And  he  turned  not  back.  He  never  faltered.  As  one  up 
held,  sustained  by  the  unseen  Hand,  he  set  his  face  stead 
fastly,  undaunted,  unafraid,  until  in  Death's  black  minute 
he  paid  glad  Life 's  arrears :  the  slaves  free !  the  Union  saved ! 
himself  immortal! 

Who  that  reads  the  Lincoln  story  can  miss  the  sublime 
significance  of  his  life  ?  Born  in  obscurity,  nurtured  in  igno 
rance,  he  grew  to  the  stature  of  national  heroism.  He  wrote 
the  decree  of  Emancipation  for  his  own  Republic,  changed 
from  war  to  peace  the  royal  message  of  the  mightiest  Empire 
of  the  world,  and  shines  to-day  a  peerless  name  the  world 
will  not  let  die.  Lincoln  rather  than  any  other  might  have 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

stood  as  the  original  of  Tennyson's  master-statesman,  for 
almost  as  with  prophetic  vision  the  great  Laureate  foresaw 
the  rise  of  Abraham  Lincoln, — 

"As  some  divinely  gifted  man, 

Whose  life  in  low  estate  began, 
And  on  a  simple  village  green; 

"Who  breaks  his  birth's  invidious  bar, 
And  grasps  the  skirts  of  happy  chance, 
And  breasts  the  blows  of  circumstance, 
And  grapples  with  his  evil  star; 

"Who  makes  by  force  his  merit  known, 
And  lives  to  clutch  the  golden  keys, 
To  mould  a  mighty  State's  decrees, 
And  shape  the  whisper  of  the  throne; 

"And,  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 
Becomes  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

This  centennial  celebration  will  have  failed  of  its  high  pur 
pose  if  it  ends  in  eulogy  of  the  dead.  Our  words  of  praise 
will  vanish  into  thin  air  and  be  forgotten.  We  ourselves  shall 
turn  again  to  the  common  ways  of  men.  The  tumult  and  the 
shouting  shall  die.  And  all  this  acclaim  of  the  mighty  dead 
shall  be  but  a  foolish  boast  unless  there  comes  to  us  from 
out  the  Unseen  where  they  abide  the  enduring  strength  and 
the  victorious  faith  by  which  they  went  up  to  die. 

It  is  but  vanity  for  us  to  profess  honor  for  the  name  of 
Lincoln  if  we  refuse  to  give  ourselves  to  carry  on  the  work 
for  which  he  gave  his  life.  That  work  is  not  yet  done.  It 
cries  aloud  for  strong  hands  and  brave  hearts.  Slavery,  as 
he  knew  it,  is  no  more,  but  the  struggle  of  human  rights  and 
social  wrongs  is  not  yet  ended.  The  planter  autocracy  is 
overthrown,  with  none  to  mourn  for  its  defeat,  but  the  sordid 
and  selfish  autocracy  of  wealth  and  privilege  and  power  is 
insolent  as  ever.  In  the  darkness  of  your  terrible  streets, 
they  still  languish  and  die,  by  the  sweat  of  whose  faces  the 
privileged  and  the  proud  still  eat  bread.  In  high  place  and 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  57 

in  low,  in  this  nation  and  in  all  nations,  there  is  still  the 
bondage  to  ignorance  and  selfishness  and  sin.  Out  of  the 
silence  there  comes  back  to  us  this  day  the  voice  of  him  who 
being  dead  yet  speaketh:  "A  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand. ' '  If  indeed  we  would  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  Lincoln,  let  us  hear  his  great  appeal,  learn  his  great  lan 
guage  of  truth,  catch  his  clear  accents  of  love ;  and  here  and 
now  let  us,  the  living,  consecrate  ourselves  to  the  unfinished 
work  of  the  dead, — 

"It  is  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before 
us, — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion, — that  we 
here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that 
this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 


A  MEMORY  OF  LINCOLN 
(A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

HON.   CHARLES  H.  WACKER 

THE  call  to  preside  at  this  meeting  I  consider  a  great 
honor;  and  I  was  particularly  gratified  to  be  assigned 
to  this  part  of  the  city  in  which  I  was  born  and  reared.  I 
remember  well  when  this  district  was  barren  of  houses,  and 
I  remember  well  the  gallant  soldiers  returning  from  the 
battlefields  of  the  Civil  War,  footsore,  weary,  and  careworn, 
with  uniforms  tattered  and  torn,  marching  north  in  Clark 
Street  to  Camp  Fry,  between  Fullerton  and  Diversey  Aven 
ues,  west  of  Clark  Street — a  locality  to-day  solidly  built  up. 
Well  do  I  remember,  also,  the  old  Court  House  in  which  the 
remains  of  Abraham  Lincoln  lay  in  state,  in  order  to  give  the 
people,  dumb  with  sorrow,  an  opportunity  of  paying  his 
mortal  remains  a  last  tribute  of  love,  gratitude,  and  respect. 

No  one,  able  to  recall  vividly  to  his  mind  the  stirring  events 
of  those  days,  can  feel  otherwise  than  I  do ;  happy  and  proud 
to  be  permitted  to  assist  in  rendering  tribute  to  the  man 
who  so  firmly  held  the  rudder  of  the  Ship  of  State  in  those 
troublous  times. 

I  was  deeply  impressed  by  a  cartoon  which  recently  ap 
peared  in  a  morning  paper,  entitled:  "The  Lincoln  Forty 
Years  from  Now/'  showing  a  boy  deeply  absorbed  in  read 
ing  the  story  of  Lincoln;  with  an  inscription:  " There  is 
somewhere  in  this  country  to-day  an  unknown  boy  who  will 
be  the  country's  greatest  man  forty  years  from  now."  May 
not  that  boy  be  in  this  audience;  may  he  not  be  inspired 
by  the  knowledge  that  ours  is  a  patriotic  people,  and  that 
we,  as  a  people,  honor  and  revere  those  who  serve  us  well  ? 

Therefore  I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  good  Ameri 
can  man  and  woman  to  do  honor  to  those  who  have  set  lofty 
examples  of  high  patriotism,  sterling  citizenship,  and  con 
scientious  discharge  of  every  public  and  private  duty — ex 
amples  which  will  serve  as  guiding  stars  for  the  aspirations 
of  generations  to  come. 

58 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  OF  ILLINOIS 

PRESIDENT  EDWIN  ERLE  SPARKS 

"Born  to  thine  own  and  every  coming  age, 
Original  American,  emancipator,  sage, 
Thy  country's  saviour,  posterity's  joy, 
We  hail  thy  birthday,  noble  son  of  Illinois." 

IN  all  the  annals  of  American  history,  perhaps  I  might  say 
in  the  full  page  of  time  itself,  there  is  written  no  stranger 
case  than  that  of  the  man  whose  birthday  is  celebrated  to-day 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  these  United  States; 
indeed,  throughout  all  the  world,  wherever  American  citizens 
may  gather  together  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Flung 
into  life  in  the  midst  of  the  most  abject  poverty,  he  closed 
life 's  fitful  fever  the  peer  of  kings  and  the  heir  of  all  the  ages. 
Hearing  in  youth  the  most  common  errors  in  English  speech, 
he  yet  trained  himself  by  his  own  efforts  to  write  English 
which  in  his  Second  Inaugural  Address  and  his  Gettysburg 
Address  may  well  be  compared  for  purity  to  any  composition 
in  the  English  language. 

He  was  a  Western  President,  coming  from  the  State  of 
Illinois,  then  the  westernmost  point  reached  in  the  choice  of 
a  President  for  the  United  States.  Born  in  Kentucky,  reared 
in  southern  Indiana  and  Illinois,  among  Southern  people, 
he  loved  the  South;  yet,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  he  was 
destined  to  deal  the  South  a  blow,  economically  and  com 
mercially,  from  which  she  has  not  fully  recovered  to  the 
present  time.  Such  is  the  strange  case  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
of  Illinois. 

You  and  I  believe  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  destined  by 
God  to  perform  a  definite  action.  If  there  ever  was  an  agent 
created  for  a  given  purpose,  we  believe  that  was  Abraham 
Lincoln.  How  shall  we  account  for  him  ? 

Some  say  that  Lincoln  was  a  miracle.  I  am  not  willing  to 

59 


60  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

let  it  rest  at  that.  What  is  a  miracle?  A  miracle  is  God 
moving  in  such  a  way  as  to  confuse  human  understanding. 
Lincoln  was  not  a  miracle.  I  believe  it  is  your  duty  and  my 
duty,  in  order  to  ascertain  why  he  was  the  man  for  the  occa 
sion,  to  try  to  examine  Lincoln  by  some  of  the  great  laws  oi 
creation  which  have  been  formulated  for  us. 

We  know  that  ''there  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men. 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune";  and  there  is 
a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  the  individual  man  which,  taken  at 
the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune.  Yet  we  often  say  that  the 
man  and  the  occasion  rarely  meet.  Sometimes  opportunity 
seems  never  to  come  to  a  man,  and  sometimes  when  the  oppor 
tunity  comes  the  man  is  not  prepared  for  it.  You  and  I  will 
agree  that  in  the  case  of  Abraham  Lincoln  the  opportunity 
came,  and  the  man  was  ready,  and  success  followed. 

In  the  brief  time  I  have  at  my  disposal,  I  can  take  only 
one  or  two  of  those  " great  laws  of  creation'7  and  apply  them 
to  Abraham  Lincoln.  First,  consider  the  law  of  environment. 
We  are  all  familiar  with  the  workings  of  that  law, — the  law 
of  surroundings.  We  have  utilized  it  constantly  in  many 
ways ;  both  in  our  families  and  in  our  schools.  We  ornament 
our  houses  and  we  decorate  the  walls  of  our  school  buildings. 
Why?  Because  we  believe  in  the  influence  of  environment, 
of  surroundings.  What  was  the  environment  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  his  formative  days?  It  was  the  environment  of 
the  American  frontier. 

As  the  mass  of  people  have  moved  across  this  continent 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  there  has  always  been 
a  front  line  of  hardy  spirits — the  pioneers;  those  who  felled 
the  forests;  those  who  built  the  log  cabins;  those  who  culti 
vated  the  fields.  We  call  them  the  frontier  of  the  American 
people,  the  vanguard  of  the  onward  march.  Abraham  Lin 
coln  lived  during  all  his  formative  days  on  what  was  then  the 
frontier,  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  Many  charac 
teristics  marked  this  front  line  of  people.  For  one  thing, 
it  contributed  largely  to  American  democracy.  It  did  not 
make  much  difference  out  on  the  frontier  who  your  grand 
father  was,  but  it  did  make  a  great  deal  of  difference  what 


THE       PENNSYLVANIA      STATE      COLLEGE 


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Facsimile   of   Manuscript   Tribute  from  Edwin  E.  Sparks,   President 
of   the    Pennsylvania   State    College 


OENI-:RAI.  COMMITTEE. 


L  H  BDRRELL.  5 
w  H.  WAGNEP 
C  W  HABDEN 


1858-1908 


Fiftieth  Anniversary 

Lincoln  and  Douglas  Debate 

Thursday,  August  27th,   1908. 


Frceport.  Illinois 


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Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Gen.  Smith  D.  Atkins,  of  Illinois 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  61 

you  could  do.  It  was  an  aristocracy  of  worth,  not  of  birth. 
They  had  to  do  things  out  on  the  frontier,  and  Abraham  Lin 
coln  was  trained  in  that  compelling  environment. 

What  did  this  frontier  do  for  the  man?  In  the  first  place, 
it  taught  him  to  investigate.  We  do  little  investigating  now. 
Why?  Because  we  have  so  many  books.  " What  is  the  use, " 
we  say,  "of  spending  time  investigating,  when  we  can  read 
it  in  the  books?"  Abraham  Lincoln  had  very  few  books. 
In  all  his  youthful  life  he  had  to  look  into  things  himself. 
The  lawyers  who  travelled  with  him  around  the  circuit  told 
that  frequently  when  he  would  see  a  tree  of  unusual  dimen 
sions  or  some  peculiarity  of  growth,  he  would  dismount  from 
his  horse  and  examine  the  tree.  When  his  little  son  received 
a  mechanical  toy,  the  father  was  not  satisfied  until  he  took 
it  to  pieces.  He  wanted  to  see  how  it  worked — investigating 
always.  When  he  came  back  from  serving  his  second  session 
in  Congress,  a  number  of  members  came  with  him.  They 
came  over  the  Great  Lakes,  around  by  Niagara  Falls.  Most 
of  the  party  stayed  on  deck,  talking  politics,  smoking,  and 
telling  stories;  but  Lincoln  was  always  down  in  the  engine- 
room,  even  amongst  the  stokers,  examining  everything,  find 
ing  out  how  it  worked.  He  showed  a  natural  talent  for  in 
vestigating. 

Soon  after  this  Lincoln  took  out  his  patent.  How  many 
of  our  Presidents  have  taken  out  a  patent  ?  I  must  sometime 
try  to  ascertain  the  answer  to  that  question  by  looking  over 
the  records  in  the  Patent  Office,  which  is  a  task  of  no  small 
dimensions.  Lincoln  took  out  a  patent.  What  was  that 
patent?  Was  it  applicable  to  Europe?  Was  it  applicable 
to  the  Atlantic  coast,  or  the  plains?  No,  it  was  something 
needed  over  here,  in  the  valley,  on  the  frontier.  It  was  a 
scheme  for  navigating  the  Western  waters  at  times  when  the 
rivers  were  low.  During  the  Summer  season,  the  rivers  di 
vided  and  sandbars  appeared.  Lincoln's  plan  was  to  put 
buoys  under  the  keels  of  vessels,  and  when  the  vessels  came 
to  obstructions,  like  sandbars  in  the  river,  they  would  inflate 
these  buoys  with  air,  which  would  lift  the  vessel  over  the  bar 
and  take  it  on.  That  was  Lincoln's  patent.  He  never  sold 


62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

one,  so  far  as  I  know,  but  it  serves  to  illustrate  my  point, 
that  he  was  an  investigator.  And,  all  during  the  Civil  War, 
diplomats,  financiers,  ambassadors  and  others  testified  to  the 
wonderful  way  in  which  Lincoln  investigated  every  matter 
brought  before  him.  He  investigated  it  in  advance.  That 
was  what  the  frontier  environment  had  taught  him. 

This  frontier  environment  also  taught  the  man  extreme 
caution.  One  man  never  went  alone  to  plough  in  the  field; 
two  men  always  went  together,  and  while  one  man  ploughed, 
the  other  man  watched  against  the  Indians.  And  it  was  said 
in  later  times,  after  the  country  was  settled,  if  two  of  these 
frontiersmen  met  in  town,  that,  remembering  the  old  habit, 
when  they  talked  together  they  stood  with  their  backs  to  each 
other,  on  the  lookout  for  danger.  I  am  not  sure,  in  these 
automobile  days,  whether  we  will  not  return  to  that  habit. 

The  frontiersman,  when  ploughing,  had  to  plough  so  care 
fully  that  he  would  not  break  his  plough,  because  he  could 
not  probably  buy  another  plough  within  twenty  miles,  or  find 
a  blacksmith  within  a  ten  miles'  journey.  The  thing  which 
characterized  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President,  if  there  was  one 
characteristic  above  another,  was  his  extreme  caution.  He 
moved  so  slowly  in  the  Civil  War  that  he  never  had  occasion 
to  wish  to  retrace  his  steps. 

I  see,  scattered  in  the  audience,  some  people  who  per 
chance  remember  the  days  of  the  Civil  War,  and  they  will 
bear  me  witness  that  Horace  Greeley  and  other  hot-headed 
men  constantly  urged  Lincoln  to  more  haste.  Mr.  Greeley 
called  him,  "Mr.  Ready-to-Wait ' ' ;  "Mr.  Faint-Heart";  "Mr. 
Man-Afraid-of-His-Shadow."  They  said,  "Why  don't  you 
do  something?  Free  the  slaves!  Close  the  War!  Do  some 
thing!  Do  something!  "  No,  Lincoln,  from  his  frontiers 
man  training,  was  moving  so  slowly  that  he  never  had  occa 
sion  to  retrace  his  steps.  He  even  gave  a  hundred  days' 
warning  in  advance  before  he  issued  his  Emancipation  Proc 
lamation.  His  slow  motion  saved  the  Union  from  breaking- 
its  plough ! 

All  this  frontier  training  taught  a  man  to  be  an  all-round 
man.  Think  what  an  all-round,  man-  Lincoln  was.  There 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  63 

was  no  piece-work  on  the  frontier.  You  had  to  make  the 
whole  machine  out  there.  A  shoemaker  made  a  whole  shoe; 
he  did  not  punch  a  hole  in  a  partly  made  shoe  and  then  pass 
it  on  to  another  man  to  punch  the  next  hole.  The  blacksmith 
made  a  whole  plough.  That  was  frontier  work ;  they  had  to 
be  all-round  men — and  of  such  was  Lincoln.  He  was  a  rail- 
splitter;  he  was  a  farmer;  in  a  small  way,  he  was  a  soldier; 
he  was  a  miller;  he  was  a  flat-boat  man;  he  was  a  lawyer — 
he  was  an  all-round  man.  And  in  that  crucial  time,  when  he 
became  President  of  the  United  States,  it  needed  a  man  who 
was  an  all-round  man.  It  needed  a  general;  it  needed  a 
financier;  it  needed  a  diplomat.  The  environment  of  the 
frontier  made  Lincoln  equal  to  the  demands  of  the  position — 
for  he  was  an  all-round  man. 

The  frontier  taught  him  self-help.  The  education  of  the 
frontier  was  something  different  from  our  education  now-a- 
days,  when  we  frequently  seek  first  aid  to  the  injured  in  our 
schools;  where  we  can  have  pre-digested  food,  and  a  crutch 
under  each  arm  to  try  to  help  us  along.  What  facilities  for 
education  did  Lincoln  have  on  the  frontier  ?  He  had  to  teach 
himself  for  the  most  part.  He  was  in  the  school  of  Nature. 
Nature  was  the  teacher,  and  Lincoln  was  the  only  student  in 
the  room — 

"Then  Nature,  the  dear  old  nurse,  took  the  child  upon  her  knee, 
Saying:     'Here  is  a  story  book  Thy  father  has  written  for  thee.' " 

The  frontier  life  also  taught  him  self-reliance.  When  he 
floated  his  flat-boat  down  the  Sangamon  River,  taking  his 
flour  to  market,  he  had  no  chart  of  that  river.  The  Sangamon 
was  so  small  and  insignificant  that  it  had  never  been  sur 
veyed  by  the  United  States  Government.  The  navigator  had 
to  meet  each  sand-bar,  snag,  and  stump  as  he  came  to  it. 
Likewise,  when  he  took  hold  of  the  helm  of  the  great  Ship  of 
State,  whatever  charts  preceding  pilots  had  used  were  useless 
to  him,  because  the  vessel  was  in  danger  of  wreck.  He  had 
to  meet  each  obstacle  as  he  came  to  it.  He  was  self-reliant 
and  confident  always,  because  he  had  been  taught  self- 
reliance.  One  time  when  some  general  said  to  him,  "Now, 


64,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Mr.  President,  if  we  do  thus  and  so  now,  what  is  going  to 
happen  next  year  ? ' '  what  did  Lincoln  answer  1  Lincoln  said, 
"You  know,  my  friend,  out  in  Illinois  we  never  cross  the 
Sangamon  Eiver  until  we  come  to  it."  And  that  was  true. 
Self-reliant  always — "We  never  cross  the  Sangamon  until 
we  come  to  it. ' ' 

His  environment  taught  the  man  also  to  speak  very  simple 
language.  They  had  no  time  out  on  the  frontier  for  sesqui 
pedalian  words.  You  must  say  what  you  had  to  say  in  short 
words,  of  one  syllable  mostly.  I  wonder  what  Mark  Antony 
would  have  done  with  an  audience  of  frontiersmen?  He 
could  not  have  held  them  for  hours  by  his  subterfuge.  They 
would  have  said,  ' '  Here,  Mark,  show  us  the  body  or  shut  up ; 
one  of  the  two. ' ' 

But  the  frontiersmen  spoke  simple  language,  and  that  was 
the  most  marked  trait  of  this  great  American.  His  language 
was  simple.  Many  times  the  language  he  used  was  so  plain, 
so  original,  so  American,  that  it  distressed  those  learned 
gentlemen  with  whom  he  surrounded  himself  in  his  Cabinet. 
After  his  second  election,  the  election  which  occurred  in  the 
midst  of  the  War,  what  should  he  have  said  ?  A  man  drawn 
from  ordinary  life  would  have  said:  "The  people  have  de 
cided  by  an  appeal  to  the  ballot  box  that  it  would  be  extremely 
hazardous  to  chance  a  change  of  executive  in  a  time  of  great 
national  peril."  Did  Lincoln  say  that?  No.  What  did  he 
say?  He  said,  "The  people  have  decided  not  to  swap  horses 
in  the  middle  of  the  stream."  Everybody  could  understand 
that ;  they  all  knew  what  that  meant. 

I  see  here,  lying  upon  the  table,  a  tablet  bearing  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  Address ;  and  that  reminds  me  of  another  evidence 
of  his  simplicity  of  composition.  What  were  the  circum 
stances  of  its  delivery?  The  Government  had  purchased 
some-  o£  the  ground  on  which  was  fought,  at  Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania,  the  high-tide  battle  of  that  great  four  years' 
contest.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  make  preparations 
for  its  dedication.  Of  course  they  must  have  an  orator,  and 
they  asked  the  Honorable  Edward  Everett  of  Massachusetts, 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  65 

a  Harvard  graduate,  a  master  of  the  English  language,  a 
great  orator,  to  give  the  oration.  But  there  was  one  member 
of  that  committee  from  Illinois,  Colonel  Clark  E.  Carr,  and 
he  said,  "Gentlemen,  I  am  from  Illinois;  Illinois  must  have 
a  speech  there.  You  must  have  President  Lincoln."  The 
rest  of  the  committee  said,  "He  is  not  an  orator;  he  cannot 
shine  with  Edward  Everett."  "But,"  said  the  persistent 
Colonel,  "Illinois  has  got  to  be  heard."  And  they  finally 
decided  to  ask  Lincoln  to  give  the  dedication  address — al 
though  nobody  knew  just  what  that  was ;  but  it  was  something 
important.  You  know  the  story.  They  postponed  the  cele 
bration  for  three  months  to  allow  the  great  orator,  Edward 
Everett,  to  write  his  oration.  Lincoln  had  three  months' 
notice  also;  but  think  what  tasks  he  had  to  do  during  those 
three  months  in  the  midst  of  the  War !  He  had  ten  thousand 
things  to  distract  his  attention;  a  thousand  griefs  gnawing 
at  his  heart.  Even  when  he  started  to  Gettysburg  he  had 
written  only  a  dozen  lines;  and  on  the  road  there,  or  after 
he  reached  there  (the  testimony  varies),  he  added  a  few  more 
lines.  When  the  great  day  came,  what  a  crowd  was  there! 
Colonel  Carr  sat  on  the  platform,  and  testifies  that  Edward 
Everett  held  those  people  spellbound  for  three  hours  by  his 
oratory.  Beginning  with  a  description  of  how  the  Greeks 
buried  their  dead,  he  proceeded  to  discuss  secession,  and  the 
rights  of  the  North,  ending  with  a  magnificent  peroration. 
When  Lincoln  arose  to  give  the  dedication  address,  there  was 
a  great  movement  in  the  crowd.  Every  one  wanted  to  see 
the  President.  There  were  cries  of  "Order,  order,  order!" 
"Down  in  front!"  and  before  order  was  restored,  Lincoln 
had  finished  reading  his  address  and  sat  down,  amidst  uni 
versal  disappointment,  as  Colonel  Clark  testifies.  There  was 
no  applause  at  that  time — the  "tremendous  applause"  was 
inserted  by  the  reporters,  so  Colonel  Carr  insists.  Then 
Edward  Everett  walked  across  the  stage  to  Mr.  Lincoln, 
reached  out  his  hand,  and  said:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  if  I  could 
have  come  as  near  striking  the  keynote  of  this  occasion  in 
three  hours  as  you  did  in  three  minutes,  I  should  be  better 

5 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

satisfied  with  my  performance. ' '  That  was  true.  What  had 
the  way  the  Greeks  buried  their  dead  to  do  with  the  dedicat 
ing  of  that  field  ?  What  had  the  rights  of  the  secession  to  do 
with  the  consecration  of  the  battleground?  Nothing.  Lin 
coln  struck  this  keynote  when  he  said :  i  l  We  cannot  dedicate 
— we  cannot  consecrate — we  cannot  hallow — this  ground.  The 
brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  conse 
crated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  ...  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remain 
ing  before  us;" — that  was  the  point.  The  War  was  not  half 
over — "that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not 
have  died  in  vain;  .  .  .  and  that  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth. ' '  That  was  the  very  essence  of  the  occasion.  And 
yet,  if  I  take  this  tablet  containing  that  immortal  address  and 
look  it  over,  I  shall  find  only  two  hundred  and  seventy-two 
words  in  the  whole  address.  Who  reads  Edward  Everett's 
oration  now?  Nobody.  But  Lincoln's  little  speech  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy-two  words  has  become  a  classic,  recited 
in  all  the  schools,  and  will  probably  endure  as  long  as  the 
English  language  endures.  Why?  Because  Edward  Ever 
ett's  speech  is  lofty,  high,  full  of  classical  allusions;  and 
Abraham  Lincoln's  address  is  in  the  plain  language  of  the 
people — the  plain  language  of  the  frontier.  Of  those  two 
hundred  and  seventy-two  words,  only  twenty-two  are  longer 
than  two  syllables,  and  the  rest  of  the  words  are  two  syllables 
or  under.  To  get  simpler  language  than  Lincoln  used  on 
that  occasion,  I  am  informed  that  you  must  go  to  the  King 
James  version  of  the  Bible. 

Simple  language !  The  frontier  taught  him  to  use  it.  The 
result  was  that  all  through  the  Civil  War  the  people  trusted 
him,  because  they  understood  him.  They  knew  just  what  he 
was  trying  to  tell  them ;  and  no  ruler,  ancient  or  modern,  was 
ever  intrusted  with  the  power  that  Abraham  Lincoln  used 
during  those  four  years. 

Do  you  realize  what  he  did?  Do  you  realize  he  had  at 
one  time  five  thousand  editors  imprisoned  in  the  United 
States?  The  Constitution  says  that  free  speech  and  a  free 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  67 

press  shall  never  be  violated.  Yet  Lincoln  did  that.  Why? 
In  order  to  suppress  insurrection  in  certain  States  of  the 
Union. 

Do  you  realize  that  when  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  the  highest  judicial  power  in  the  land,  issued  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  to  get  Merryman  out  of  jail  at  Baltimore, 
Lincoln  refused  to  allow  the  writ?  Why?  In  order  to  sup 
press  the  rebellion  in  the  Southern  States. 

Do  you  realize  that  he  confiscated  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  dollars'  worth  of  Southern  slave  property,  when  he  had 
no  right  under  the  Constitution  to  free  the  cheapest,  meanest 
slave  that  ever  breathed?  Why  did  he  do  this?  In  order 
to  suppress  insurrection,  and  save  the  Union  that  our  fathers 
had  given  to  us.  The  people  allowed  him  to  do  this — the 
people  allowed  him  to  use  these  extraneous  powers,  because 
they  knew  that  at  the  end  of  the  War,  when  it  was  all  over, 
he  would  hand  back  the  government  to  them.  He  would  not 
usurp  their  power.  They  understood  him;  they  knew  him; 
they  trusted  him;  and  all  because  he  used  simple  language 
within  the  public  comprehension. 

Lincoln  was  reared  in  the  Mississippi  Valley ;  he  knew  little 
about  the  Old  World ;  he  never  visited  Europe ;  he  was  purely 
an  American.  By  contrast  with  him,  George  Washington 
was  nothing  more  than  an  English  gentleman  living  over  here 
in  America.  I  do  not  do  injustice  to  the  shade  of  George 
Washington  if  I  say  that  by  contrast  with  Lincoln,  he  simply 
reflected  England.  For  instance,  George  Washington  sent 
to  England  to  get  his  coat  of  arms.  He  had  the  Washington 
arms  in  silver  on  the  harness  of  his  horses;  he  also  had  it  on 
the  coach  which  he  used  as  President.  You  are  sure  to  see 
that  coach  because  it  is  preserved  in  three  different  places 
in  the  United  States  at  the  present  time !  Did  Abraham  Lin 
coln  have  any  coat  of  arms?  I  never  saw  it.  If  he  did,  the 
device  must  have  been  two  rails,  a  maul,  and  a  wedge. 
George  Washington  sent  to  England  to  get  his  family  tree. 
He  traced  the  beginning  of  his  family  back  to  the  Conquerors ; 
it  is  just  as  good  a  family  tree  as  you  can  buy  now-a-days. 
Did  Abraham  Lincoln  have  any  family  tree  traced  out?  No. 


68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Over  here  on  the  frontier  the  settlers  were  too  busy  with  the 
other  kind  of  trees  to  pay  much  attention  to  family  trees. 
Even  when  Lincoln  went  to  Congress  he  wrote  to  a  man 
named  Lincoln,  living  in  Virginia,  trying  to  find  out  some 
thing  more  about  his  own  grandfather. 

George  Washington  had  his  clothes  made  in  England  up 
to  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Were  Abraham  Lin 
coln  's  clothes  made  in  England  ?  It  makes  you  smile  to  think 
of  it.  As  a  young  boy  the  wool  for  his  clothes  was  grown  in 
Kentucky  and  spun  there,  and  was  there  dyed  with  the  juice 
of  the  butternut  tree. 

The  result  was  that  Abraham  Lincoln  reflected  the  American 
environment,  and  George  Washington  reflected  the  Old  World 
environment.  They  were  nearly  one  hundred  years  apart. 
George  Washington  was  President  eight  years  and  had  one 
task,  and  that  was  a  foreign  problem — how  to  keep  from  going 
to  war  with  England  on  the  one  side,  or  with  France  on  the 
other.  He  set  the  pattern  for  neutrality  for  America,  which, 
thank  God,  we  have  not  departed  from  in  all  the  years  that 
have  followed.  He  set  the  pattern  that  we  should  be  free 
at  Washington  from  entangling  alliances  with  other  nations. 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  President  a  little  over  four  years,  and 
what  was  his  task?  To  save  the  American  Union;  a  task 
peculiarly  American.  And  his  American  environment,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  had  fitted  him  to  meet  that  problem. 

Lincoln  was  the  most  original  American  who  ever  reached 
the  presidency,  and  was  also  the  most  misunderstood.  We 
have  never  had  a  man  in  all  American  history  who,  in  his 
life,  was  as  much  vituperated  and  blamed,  and,  in  his  death, 
as  praised  and  deified  as  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

I  wish  I  could  show  to  you  a  collection  of  cartoons  I  pos 
sess  showing  how  Lincoln  was  caricatured,  how  he  was  vilified 
during  the  Civil  War ;  misunderstood  always,  both  before  and 
after  he  was  elected  President.  Lincoln  suffered  such  dis 
advantage  as  few  men  have  suffered  when  coming  into  that 
high  office.  He  lacked  nearly  half  a  million  votes  of  having 
a  majority  for  President — nearly  half  a  million  popular  votes. 
Then  how  could  he  be  elected?  Only  by  means  of  our  elect- 


The   Lincoln   of   Forty  Years   from   Now 


By  courtesy  of  The  Chicago  Tribune 


Two     Lincoln    Centenary    Cartoons    by    John   T. 
McCutcheon 


o" 

ii 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  69 

oral  system,  voting  by  States.  If  the  choice  had  demanded 
a  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  Lincoln  would  not  have  been 
elected.  Furthermore,  he  never  could  have  been  elected  if 
there  had  not  been  a  split  in  the  Democratic  party.  And,  still 
further,  he  never  could  have  got  the  nomination  away  from 
William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  if  the  convention  had  not 
been  held  in  Chicago. 

The  corner  of  Lake  and  Market  Streets  was  occupied  in 
1860  by  a  great  wooden  structure  which  they  called  the 
"  Wigwam. "  Horace  Greeley  came  on  from  New  York  to 
report  the  convention,  and  he  wrote  back  to  his  paper,  "The 
Republicans  have  built  a  great  structure  which  they  call  the 
Wigwam.  God  help  the  Indians  if  they  ever  lived  in  as  ugly 
a  building  as  this ! '  *  The  second  day  he  wrote,  ' '  The  Seward 
people  have  made  a  mistake  in  allowing  the  convention  to 
come  to  Chicago,  because  they  are  all  Lincoln  men  out  here." 
Greeley  also  wrote  in  his  correspondence  to  the  Tribune, 
"Yesterday  the  Seward  men  began  the  shouting,  but  to-day 
the  Lincoln  men  had  the  best  of  it."  Thereby  hangs  a  tale 
as  told  by  David  Davis,  one  of  the  Lincoln  managers.  Seward 
had  chartered  a  whole  railroad  train  and  sent  it  on  to  Chi 
cago  full  of  New  York  supporters  to  shout  for  Seward  in  the 
convention.  They  were  headed  by  Tom  Hyers,  a  celebrated 
prize  fighter,  and  the  first  day  they  filled  the  galleries  of  the 
"Wigwam,"  and  the  Lincoln  men  could  not  get  in.  That 
night  the  Lincoln  men  went  out  to  Evanston  and  secured  a 
man  who  said  he  was  the  mate,  or  the  captain,  of  a  vessel. 
Whatever  he  was,  all  agreed  that  he  had  a  voice  that  could 
drown  any  fog  horn  on  the  Great  Lakes.  They  brought  that 
man  in  that  night,  and  when  the  Seward  men  went  out  to 
serenade  the  Seward  headquarters  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  the  Lincoln  men  stuffed  the  galleries  full  of  their  own 
followers,  under  the  leadership  of  this  captain.  When  the 
Seward  men  came  back  the  following  morning,  they  could 
not  get  into  the  building.  The  result  was,  as  Greeley  said, 
"The  Lincoln  men  to-day  have  the  best  of  the  shouting." 
In  the  balloting  they  gradually  won  State  after  State,  until 
finally  a  man  sitting  on  the  roof,  and  drawing  up  by  a  string 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  results  of  each  ballot  as  it  was  cast,  shouted  the  news  down 
to  the  crowds  in  the  street  that  Seward  had  been  defeated 
and  that  Lincoln  was  the  nominee.  The  friends  of  Seward 
ratified  the  nomination  with  tears  of  anguish  rolling  down 
their  countenances.  "Why,"  they  said,  "we  don't  doubt  that 
old  Abe  Lincoln  is  an  honest  man,  but  look  at  him!  Why, 
nobody  ever  saw  such  a  homely  man !  What  will  his  picture 
look  like  in  the  campaign?  Furthermore,  with  such  a  well- 
known  man  as  Seward  we  could  have  swept  the  country. ' ' 

I  say  that  Lincoln  was  misunderstood  always,  both  before 
and  after  his  election.  You  will  remember  that  Horace 
Greeley  supported  Lincoln  in  the  Tribune,  and  that  it  was 
the  great  Republican  paper.  Greeley  sent  a  reporter  to  ac 
company  Lincoln  from  Springfield  to  Washington,  where  he 
was  to  be  inaugurated.  On  the  road  down  there  an  incident 
occurred,  of  which  the  reporter  sent  in  a  description  to  the 
Tribune,  and  the  despatch  appeared  with  the  undignified 
headline:  "Old  Abe  Kissed  by  a  Pretty  Girl."  Yet  it  was 
a  beautiful  and  touching  incident. 

From  a  little  village  in  New  York  State  during  the  cam 
paign,  a  little  girl  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  She  was 
only  thirteen  years  old.  The  letter  ran,— 

"Mr  DEAB  MB.  LINCOLN:  I  think  if  you  had  whiskers  on  your  face 
you  would  look  more  like  my  papa;  you  would  be  a  better  looking 
man." 

I  suppose  her  father  had  one  of  the  Lincoln  lithographs 
hanging  in  the  house.  Now,  it  is  purely  a  coincidence,  but 
every  picture  of  Abraham  Lincoln  showing  him  with  a  smooth 
face  was  made  before  I860;  and  every  picture  showing  him 
after  he  was  elected  President  shows  that  he  had  grown  a 
beard  during  that  Summer — perhaps  to  cover  up  his  face  to 
some  extent — that  is  what  he  said,  at  least.  When  he  started 
for  Washington  to  be  inaugurated,  he  passed  through  the 
town  where  his  young  critic  lived.  The  train  halted  for  a 
few  moments.  In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  he  was  stand 
ing  out  on  the  rear  platform  of  the  train,  and  this  man  from 
Illinois,  this  apparently  crude,  rough-exteriored  man  from 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  71 

the  West,  remembered  this  little  girl  and  called  out  to  the 
crowd,  ''Is  there  a  little  girl  by  the  name  of  Grace  Bedell  in 
the  crowd?"  "Yes,"  said  her  father,  and  he  handed  her  up 
to  the  platform.  *  *  Well,  Grace,  do  you  think  I  am  any  better- 
looking  with  the  whiskers  than  before  ? ' '  Then  he  kissed  her 
and  handed  her  back  to  her  father.  Like  the  Master  of  Men, 
the  President-elect  of  these  United  States  took  the  little  child 
in  his  arms  and  kissed  her.  How  did  it  appear  in  the 
Tribune f— "Old  Abe  Kissed  by  a  Pretty  Girl"— a  sneer 
ing  tone.  The  Eastern  papers  saw  nothing  but  the  crude 
appearance  of  the  man.  They  knew  he  was  the  tallest  man 
in  Illinois;  they  knew  he  was  the  homeliest  man  in  Illinois; 
they  knew  that  he  could  wrap  one  leg  about  the  other  in  a 
way  that  no  man  could  hope  to  imitate ;  they  knew  all  these 
things  about  him,  but  they  did  not  know  his  good  qualities. 

In  Albany,  New  York,  on  the  road  to  be  inaugurated,  the 
committee  from  New  York  came  to  meet  him  in  the  car  in 
which  he  was  travelling.  What  did  he  do  ?  The  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world.  There  was  the  committee  from  New 
York,  and  he  should  have  been  overwhelmed  with  the  honor 
and  the  courtesy  of  their  reception.  But  it  did  n  't  make  any 
difference  to  Lincoln,  any  more  than  if  it  had  been  a  com 
mittee  from  Kalamazoo  or  Podunk.  He  took  Mrs.  Lincoln 
by  the  arms  and  lifted  her  up  to  the  seat,  and  said,  "Mother, 
the  committee  from  New  York  is  here  to  meet  me.  Tidy  me 
up  a  little  bit. ' '  Mrs.  Lincoln  arranged  his  tie  and  smoothed 
his  hair.  The  committee  said,  * '  Look  at  that !  There  is  the 
uncouth  man  who  is  going  to  the  White  House  instead  of  our 
polished  Seward.  Look  at  that, — *  Mother,  tidy  me  up  a  little 
bit ! '  !  They  did  not  see  the  unusual  man  beneath  that  ordi 
nary  exterior. 

I  am  thinking  of  that  first  reception  after  the  inauguration, 
and  what  this  original  President  did.  In  those  days  it  was 
customary  in  the  White  House  to  throw  open  the  doors  and 
have  all  the  people  gather  in  one  room  to  receive  the  Presi 
dent.  The  President  and  his  wife  would  then  come  in 
through  the  folding  doors,  and  go  about  shaking  hands  with 
the  people.  By  and  by  the  company  was  all  gathered;  the 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

diplomats  and  the  representatives  and  all  were  there;  they 
wanted  to  see  what  this  untrained  man  would  do  in  the  White 
House.  The  usher  threw  open  the  folding  doors  and  said, 
"The  President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln."  In  came  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  and,  you  remember,  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  much  shorter 
than  her  husband.  As  they  came  up  to  the  first  group,  he 
wanted  to  say  something  to  put  everybody  at  his  ease.  Every 
body  expected  him  to  say  something  relating  to  the  Consti 
tution,  or  some  other  mighty  subject.  But  what  did  he  say? 
He  said,  "Gentlemen,  here  comes  the  long  and  the  short  of 
it. ' '  Original  American !  What  does  the  poet  say  ? 

"Nature,  they  say,  doth  dote, 
And  can  not  make  a  man, 
Save  on  some  worn-out  plan, 
Repeating  us  by  rote; 

For  him  her  Old- World  moulds  aside  she  threw, 
And,  choosing  sweet  clay  from  the  breast 
Of  the  unexhausted  West, 
With  stuff  untainted  shaped  a  hero  new." 

If  sufficient  time  were  at  my  disposal,  I  should  like  nothing 
better  than  to  take  the  reverse  of  what  I  have  said  thus  far, 
and  show  that  while  in  the  White  House  the  training  of  his 
Western  environment  never  deserted  him;  nor  did  his  orig 
inality.  Seward  might  have  made  a  better  Union  than 
Lincoln,  but  Seward  could  never  have  saved  the  Union  as 
did  Lincoln.  Seward 's  policy  was  to  get  up  a  foreign  war; 
to  bring  in  something  from  the  outside ;  to  throw  dust  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people.  But  you  could  not  fool  the  people  all 
the  time.  Lincoln's  originality  solved  the  problem.  If  he 
had  done  as  Horace  Greeley  demanded,  freed  the  slaves  early 
in  the  War,  and  if  he  had  recognized  the  Confederacy  from 
the  beginning,  as  many  wanted  him  to,  what  would  have  been 
the  result?  We  should  have  had  two  governments  on  the 
same  soil  in  the  South.  But  he  never  recognized  the  Con 
federate  States ;  he  never  recognized  them  as  other  than  States 
in  rebellion.  He  gave  us  back  our  Southland  as  pure,  un 
polluted,  virgin-like  in  its  character,  as  when  it  was  intrusted 
to  his  hands. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  73 

He  never  compromised.  Why?  Because  he  was  taught  in 
the  school  of  Nature  in  the  West,  and  Nature  never  compro 
mises.  You  have  to  pay  the  penalty  of  Nature  every  time. 
And  if  he  had  lived,  I  believe  he  would  have  spared  us  that 
awful  period  which  we  call  "reconstruction."  Take  the 
Southern  people  to-day.  Have  they  lost  the  bitterness  of  the 
Civil  War?  Yes,  but  they  cannot  forget  the  reconstruction. 
That  was  a  bitter  period,  when  the  "carpet-bagger"  plun 
dered  the  South  and  placed  the  negro  in  the  saddle.  I  believe 
Lincoln  would  have  saved  us  that  experience.  Why?  Be 
cause  he  was  by  birth  a  Southerner.  If  there  is  a  Southerner 
here,  he  has  a  right  to  claim  Lincoln.  Lincoln  was  born  in 
the  slave  State  of  Kentucky,  and  he  was  surrounded  by 
Southern  people  when  he  moved  over  into  Indiana  in  the 
early  days.  Then  he  moved  to  the  southern  part  of  Illinois, 
which  was  settled  by  Southern  people.  He  loved  the  South. 
He  never  wanted  to  take  away  their  slaves,  and  to  the  day 
of  his  death  he  supported  the  theory  of  compensated  emanci 
pation.  "Let  us  buy  their  slaves,  and  not  take  their  slaves 
away,"  he  said.  In  the  midst  of  the  War  he  secured  the 
passage  of  a  bill  by  Congress  offering  to  buy  the  slaves  of 
any  State  not  in  rebellion;  that  was  his  theory.  He  was  a 
Southern  man  and  he  loved  the  South.  One  day  he  threw  his 
great  long  arms  around  Senator  Speed  of  Kentucky,  whom 
he  had  known  in  boyhood.  "Oh,  Speed,"  he  said,  "if  we 
could  get  one  State,  if  we  could  only  get  Kentucky,  to  accept 
our  offer  to  buy  their  slaves  rather  than  take  them  away, 
then  you  and  I  would  not  have  lived  in  vain."  They  would 
not  do  it,  and  he  had  to  take  away  the  slaves  in  some  of  the 
States,  and  allow  the  people  by  an  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution  to  take  them  away  in  all  the  States. 

I  believe,  also,  on  the  basis  of  the  last  speech  that  he  ever 
made,  that  he  would  have  saved  us  reconstruction.  Lee  had 
surrendered.  Great  crowds  flocked  into  the  White  House 
grounds  and  called  for  Lincoln,  who  stepped  out  on  the 
south  portico.  His  long,  gaunt  figure  and  homely  face  ap 
pealed  to  the  crowd  in  the  flaring  light  of  the  many  torches. 
He  got  the  crowd  quiet  and  then  he  said,  * '  Now,  my  friends, ' ' 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

— raising  his  voice  to  a  thrilling  falsetto,  as  he  always  did 
when  he  was  anxious  to  make  everybody  hear, — "Now,  my 
friends,  the  good  news  which  has  reached  us,  that  Lee  has  sur 
rendered,  bids  us  fair  to  think  that  the  end  of  the  War  is  at 
hand.  Now  will  come  the  great  task  of  reconstructing  the 
Union." 

"Whether  the  Southern  States  have  been  out  of  the  Union, 
or  whether  they  have  not  been  out  of  the  Union/'  was  the 
question  which  Congress  and  President  Johnston  fought  over 
for  three  years.  What  did  Lincoln  say?  "As  to  whether 
they  have  been  out  of  the  Union  or  have  not  been  out  of  the 
Union,  I  consider  all  that  merely  a  pernicious  abstraction. 
They  have  not  been  in  their  proper  relations,  and  it  is  your 
duty  to  get  them  back  into  their  proper  relations  as  soon  as 
possible. ' ' 

That  was  his  simple  plan;  that  is  the  way  he  would  have 
done  it.  But  it  was  not  to  be.  Walt  Whitman,  the  poet, 
said  there  were  three  days  when  it  seemed  to  him  the  world 
had  come  to  an  end.  The  first  was  the  day  when  he  heard 
that  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon;  the  second  was  the  day 
he  heard  of  the  fearful  loss  of  the  Northern  forces  at  Manas- 
sas  Junction ;  and  the  third  was  the  dawn  of  the  April  morn 
ing  when  he  heard  the  newsboys  crying  through  the  streets 
of  Washington  that  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated. 
Soon  after,  Walt  Whitman  heard  how  Lincoln  told  his  dream 
to  his  Cabinet  three  days  before  his  death.  What  other 
President  has  ever  gone  before  his  Cabinet  and  professed  his 
reliance  in  dreams?  But  Lincoln  always  depended  upon  his 
dreams.  He  said  to  his  Cabinet,  "Don't  worry;  we  shall 
have  another  victory."  They  said,  "Have  you  had  some 
news?"  "No,  but  I  have  had  my  dream,  and  just  as  sure 
as  I  have  that  dream,  we  shall  have  a  victory."  What  was 
the  significant  dream?  He  dreamed  of  a  ship  coming  in 
under  full  sail,  every  mast  and  sail  and  rope  in  its  place. 
He  believed  that  whenever  he  dreamed  that  dream,  we  had 
a  victory.  Walt  Whitman,  after  Lincoln's  death,  only  three 
days  later,  said,  "I  can  interpret  that  dream.  The  ship  is 
the  ship  of  state.  It  has  come  in  under  full  sail;  every  sail 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  75 

and  mast  and  rope  in  its  place.     It  is  the  Union.     The  Union 
is  saved,  but  the  Captain  of  the  vessel  lies  dead  on  the  deck. ' ' 
And  with  this  thought  in  mind,  Walt  Whitman  wrote  these 
beautiful  lines  with  which  I  close : 

"O  Captain!  my  Captain!  our  fearful  trip  is  done, 
The  ship  has  weather'd  every  rock,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won, 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and  daring; 
But  0  heart!   heart!   heart! 
O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 

Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

"O  Captain!  my  Captain!  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells; 
Rise  up — for  you  the  flag  is  flung — for  you  the  bugle  trills, 
For  you  bouquets  and  ribbon'd  wreaths — for  you  the  shores  a-crowding, 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning; 
Here,  Captain!   dear  father! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head! 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck. 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

"My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will; 
The  ship  is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done, 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won. 
Exult  O  shores,  and  ring  0  bells! 
But  I,  with  mournful  tread, 
Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead." 


THE  FIGURE  OF  AN  AGE 
(A  Speech  of  Introduction) 

HON.   STEPHEN  S.   GREGORY 

IT  is  well  in  this  great  Republic  that  we  do  not  forget  her 
distinguished  sons.  By  studying  the  lessons  of  their  lives, 
by  frequently  recalling  their  virtues  and  their  excellencies, 
national  ideals  are  elevated  and  national  character  strength 
ened  and  developed. 

We  are  met  to  commemorate  upon  this  centennial  anni 
versary,  the  birth  and  the  life  of  a  great  American. 

Born  in  obscurity  and  of  humble  parentage,  reared  in  want 
and  poverty,  denied  almost  all  educational  advantages,  the 
plainest  of  the  plain  people,  he  stands  to-day,  secure  in  the 
Pantheon  of  Nations,  the  great  colossal  figure  of  his  age  and 
time. 

Disappointed  and  embittered,  as  he  sometimes  seems  to  have 
been  by  his  earlier  political  experiences,  he  lived  to  witness 
that  great  triumph  of  human  freedom,  to  the  struggle  for 
which  his  life  was  consecrated,  and  to  which  he  was  desig 
nated  by  a  higher  than  any  earthly  power. 

In  a  peculiar  sense  Abraham  Lincoln  belongs  to  Illinois. 
Here  in  this  city,  amid  the  gathering  clouds  of  civil  strife 
and  discord,  he  was  selected  to  bear  the  banner  of  freedom. 
From  his  humble  home  at  our  capital  he  went  forth  to  his 
stupendous  career,  to  his  glorious  martyrdom.  Thither  he 
was  borne  after  the  last  sad  tragedy,  and  there  upon  our  soil 
he  sleeps  until  the  earth  shall  give  up  its  dead. 

We  knew  him  when  we  gave  him  to  mankind.  The  world 
knows  him  now;  and  to  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time  he 
can  not  be  forgotten. 


76 


THE  GREAT  COMMONER 

DR.  EMIL  G.    HIRSCH 

GREAT  men  are  like  towering  mountain  peaks.  They 
stand  out  in  bold  and  sharp  loneliness  above  the  low 
lands  of  the  many-companied  multitude  of  the  undistin 
guished  and  the  unfamed.  And  yet  they  are,  for  all  their 
grandeur,  of  one  formation  with  the  deeper  levels.  But  they 
catch  the  first  flash  of  the  morning  sun,  and  the  expiring  day 's 
regretful  good-night  kiss  is  imprinted  upon  their  brow.  And 
when  thus  the  breaking  dawn's  blush  is  upon  them  and  the 
glow  of  the  retreating  twilight  weaves  around  them  its  golden 
halo,  they  loom  up  veritable  torches  kindled  to  light  the  path 
for  the  wayfarers  in  the  valleys  beneath.  Like  mountains, 
their  magnitude  escapes  the  beholder  from  too  near  a  point 
of  observation.  While  they  live  they  jostle  against  the  throng 
in  the  market  and  the  street.  Their  voice  rings  out  from  the 
platform,  indeed,  but  its  peculiar  note  is  not  detected  because 
others  of  lesser  quality  have  aroused  the  echo  as  well.  And 
they  who  in  heated  debate  heard  their  appeal  and  argument 
or  touched  elbows  with  them  as  they  hurried  to  their  daily 
task,  cannot  but  carry  from  the  contact  and  concourse  the 
feeling  that  even  giants  are  kneaded  of  the  clay  that  mothers 
all  mortality.  Only  when  time  has  raised  a  screen  between 
the  days  in  which  it  was  theirs  to  act  their  part,  and  sub 
sequent  years — when  what  was  a  burning  issue  around  which 
flamed  passion  and  flowered  intrigue  has  grown  to  be  the 
cherished  conviction  of  the  later  born — they  who  in  the  days 
of  their  vigorous  manhood  were  rated  and  berated  partisans 
are  summoned  from  their  graves,  exemplars  of  patriotic  de 
votion,  monuments  of  human  greatness.  When  they  and  their 
generation  have  entered  into  rest,  their  fame  leaps  to  the 
welcoming  skies.  It  is  hailed  a  talisman  for  the  nation — 

77 


78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

their  grave  a  Mecca,  where  the  faithful  seek  and  find  inspira 
tion.  The  old  prophets  of  Israel  had  power  to  break  the 
shackles  of  death  even  after  their  mortality  had  been  laid 
away  in  the  rock-hewn  tomb.  This  marvellous  gift  is  shared 
by  the  memory  of  the  truly  glorious. 

And  herein  lies  the  deeper  significance  of  a  day  like  this. 
The  ancient  Greeks  fabled  about  a  spring  with  magic  to  re 
store  youth  to  them  that  courted  the  embrace  of  its  waters. 
It  is  said  that  as  nations  grow  old  their  memorial  days  increase. 
This  is  one  way  of  stating  the  truth.  The  other  is  that  those 
nations  retain  their  youth  who  cherish  the  memory  of  their 
great.  This  anniversary  hour  visits  us  to  bestow  upon  us 
new  strength.  It  challenges  inquiry  whether  we  have  proven 
worthy  heirs  of  the  fathers.  For  every  memory  is  also  a 
monitor.  One  hundred  years  have  run  their  circling  rounds 
since  the  incarnation  of  Abraham  Lincoln — forty  and  four 
links  of  this  chain  mark  the  number  of  solar  circuits  since  his 
ascension  to  immortality.  What  is  he  for  us?  What  mes 
sage  for  us  comes  on  the  wing  of  this  centenary  ? 

Lincoln  types  for  us  the  best  and  the  noblest  American. 
The  mountain  peaks  are  of  one  formation  with  the  lower 
levels.  The  best  that  is  within  us  had  body  and  soul  in  him. 
America  spells  opportunity.  His  life  illustrates  the  verity 
of  this  observation.  In  other  lands  birth  and  descent  too 
often  decide  the  place  where  the  late  comer  shall  live  his  life. 
Destiny  does  not  signify  future;  it  signifies  past.  Not  so 
in  this  blessed  country.  The  upward  path  to  distinction  is 
not  closed  in  by  barbed  wire.  Character  and  capacity,  not 
coronets,  are  the  credentials  which  admit  to  the  company  of 
the  leaders.  By  strange  coincidence  Lincoln  shared  one  birth 
day  with  Charles  Darwin.  The  name  of  this  great  naturalist 
is  forever,  but  not  altogether  rightfully,  associated  with  the 
theory  that  environment  and  heredity  are  the  decisive  factors 
of  the  equation  of  life.  It  is  as  though  Providence  has  in 
tended  to  bring  out  the  supremacy  of  personality  over  en 
vironment,  and  therefore  called  into  being  on  one  and  the 
same  day  these  two  great  pathfinders.  If  ever  circumstances 
prognosticated  obscurity,  those  did  into  which  Lincoln  was 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  79 

ushered  in  the  hour  of  his  birth.  He  was  of  good  stock. 
This,  in  the  light  of  inquiry  into  the  antecedents  of  his  par 
ents,  cannot  be  denied.  But  they  from  whose  loins  he  sprang 
had  but  little  to  give  him  of  this  earth's  goods.  The  saying 
of  old  sages  of  Israel  comes  to  mind :  ' '  Have  ye  heed  of  the 
children  of  poverty,  for  from  them  shall  go  forth  glory." 
Our  colonial  and  national  history  is  replete  with  examples 
verifying  the  philosophy  of  this  observation,  as,  indeed,  the 
pages  telling  the  story  of  Biblical  times  are  a  running  com 
mentary  thereon.  He  who  was  to  become  the  saviour  of  his 
nation  was  welcomed  to  life  by  surroundings  like  those  that 
witnessed  the  advent  of  another  babe  acclaimed  by  millions 
the  Saviour  of  mankind.  Whatever  star  may  have  shone  over 
the  birth-chamber  of  Lincoln,  none  in  that  Kentucky  Bethle 
hem  was  aware  of  its  prophetic  brilliancy.  Poverty  was  a 
permanent  lodger  in  that  household.  It  bent  over  the  child's 
cradle  and  dogged  the  faltering  step  of  his  brief  years  of  play. 
It  denied  him  access  to  books  and  schooling.  It  hurried  him 
on  to  work  at  a  time  when  his  frame  was  but  little  equal  to 
the  burden.  It  laid  responsibilities  on  his  shoulders  when 
he  should  have  been  given  counsel  and  guidance.  But  all 
this  contrived  to  bring  out  in  vigor  his  dower  of  conquering 
and  masterful  will-power.  Steel  is  won  when  cruel  blows 
or  searching  blasts  stir  the  iron  to  fight.  Life,  too,  is  a  Bes 
semer  process.  For  the  Lincolns,  the  men  of  genuine 
American  mould,  every  blow  and  every  blast  is  provocation 
to  self-development.  Circumstance  for  them  is  a  negative 
quantity.  Their  character,  the  will  to  attain  unto  manhood, 
is  the  positive  factor  assuring  them  the  victory.  The  bookless 
boy  dies  companion  of  the  masters  of  his  native  tongue,  and 
his  writings  stand  forth  patterns  of  classic  diction.  The  boy 
who  was  denied  the  privilege  of  entering  the  halls  of  learning 
and  to  drink  his  fill  at  the  horn  of  wisdom  which  Plato  and 
Aristotle  had  brimmed,  or  to  wing  his  tongue  under  emulation 
of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  as  a  man  astonishes  the  world  with 
the  penetration  of  his  insight  into  the  ruling  principles  of 
statecraft,  the  eloquence  of  his  pleading,  the  acumen  and 
versatility  of  his  argument.  He,  the  awkward  backwoods 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

lawyer,  throws  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  Little  Giant  of  the 
rostrum  and  shows  that  his  blade  is  indeed  of  Saracen  keen 
ness  and  elasticity,  and  in  attack  and  defence  worthy  of  the 
opponent's  oft  tried  sword.  Lincoln  personalized  the  grit  of 
the  American  people.  In  him  came  to  fullest  flower  and  real 
presence,  that  combination  of  resourcefulness  and  stubborn 
pluck  which  crowned  the  American  conqueror  of  the  prairies' 
rolling  tracts,  the  primeval  forests'  tangles,  the  mountains' 
rocky  ramparts,  the  rivers'  raging  wrath.  The  persistence 
and  perseverance  which  the  nation  as  a  whole  applied  to  the 
building  of  the  great  emp&ria,  and  the  exploitation  of  mines, 
and  the  erection  of  mills,  and  the  spreading  of  markets,  he 
energized  in  making  himself. 

He  himself  throughout  his  rising  years  which  lifted  him 
up  from  lowliness  and  set  him  among  the  princes — yea,  the 
princes  of  his  people — remained  the  plain,  modest,  rugged, 
strong  American.  Because  the  genius  of  his  people  had  be 
come  flesh  in  him,  he  never  lost  contact  with  the  plain  folk — 
after  all,  the  supporting  pillar  of  the  great  nation 's  greatness, 
the  Gibraltar  of  its  protection  and  power.  Never  did  he  at 
tempt  to  put  them  away  from  him.  He,  indeed,  was  the 
mountain  peak,  in  its  own  elevation  proclaiming  the  prowess 
of  the  strata  out  of  which  it  rises  to  nearer  communion  with 
the  clouds.  This  kinship  of  his  with  the  plain  folk  comes  to 
gratifying  light  in  that  gift  of  his,  in  his  own  lifetime,  and 
still  more  expressively  after  his  death,  the  centre  of  an  ever- 
widening  circle  of  legend.  'Legend  always  is  tribute  paid  to 
genuine  greatness  by  neighborhood  and  posterity  conscious 
of  their  spiritual  affinity  to  the  distinguished  and  elect,  bone 
of  their  bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh.  Around  neither  the 
ordinary  nor  the  supercilious,  is  web  of  legend  spun.  In  at 
tributing  to  Lincoln  the  authorship  of  so  many  stories,  many 
of  which  are  doubtless  apocryphal,  the  sound  sense  of  the 
people  that  has  given  currency  to  the  anecdotes  has  for  very 
truth  picked  out  the  one  quality  in  the  mental  equipment  of 
their  hero  which  sets  into  bold  relief  his  sound  Americanism. 
Irony  and  satire  are  exotics.  They  are  bacteria  incidental 
to  putrefaction  and  dissolution.  Humor  is  indigenous  to  our 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  81 

soil.  It  is  the  saving  grace  of  our  intense  predisposition  to 
practical  realism.  One  might  even  advance  the  opinion  that 
humor  is  the  vehicle  of  expression  of  our  nation's  poetry. 
For  such  humor  as  appeals  to  us  has  all  the  elements  of  true 
poetic  apprehension  of  great  principles.  It  reads  universal 
facts  in  the  guise  of  individual  occurrence.  Our  humor  is 
our  philosophic  vocabulary.  Of  this  humor  Lincoln  had 
abundance.  It  was  the  patrimony  of  his  profound  American 
ism.  In  drawing  upon  this  fund  he  struck  a  note  which, 
coming  out  of  the  very  heart  of  his  people,  found  its  way 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  people.  He  knew  his  power.  It 
served  him  for  a  safety  valve.  With  it  he  laid  storms  of 
passion ;  he  disarmed  suspicion.  Its  copious  use  brought  him 
all  the  nearer  to  the  affections  and  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  toilers,  the  humble  men  and  women  whose  sacrifice 
was  all  the  greater  in  the  years  when  the  hurricane  blew, 
because  fame  held  out  no  promise  of  compensation  to  them — 
as,  indeed,  hope  of  recognition  was  not  the  magnet  that  drew 
them  on. 

The  typical  Americanism  of  Lincoln  is  manifested  also  in 
his  genuine  religiosity.  For  our  nation  is  religious.  The 
solicitude  for  playing  fair,  so  characteristic  of  the  temper 
of  the  American  people — what  is  it,  if  not  the  religion  of 
the  Golden  Eule?  That  religion  was  Lincoln's.  He  was 
not  attached  to  the  externalities  of  cult.  He  had  little  pa 
tience  for  the  frills  and  feathers  of  the  ritual.  But  he  had 
an  abounding  childlike  faith  in  Providence.  This  faith  sus 
tained  him  throughout.  He  felt  his  own  insufficiency.  He 
knew  that  human  force  is  limited.  In  the  floodtides  and  ebbs 
of  human  happenings  he  humbly  beheld  the  working  out  of 
a  divine  plan  and  purpose.  His  simple  faith  asked  for  no 
creed.  It  brooked  no  cant.  Overpowering  in  their  simplicity 
and  inspiring  in  their  honesty  and  earnestness  are  the  words 
with  which  he  bade  his  townsmen  of  Springfield  adieu  when 
he  set  out  to  take  the  helm  of  the  Ship  of  State  in  the  stormy 
days  when  the  war  clouds  were  thickening:  "Without  the 
assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him  [Wash 
ington]  ,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail. 

6 


82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain  with  you, 
and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all 
will  yet  be  well."  These  sentiments  were  his  parting  bene 
diction  to  his  neighbors  among  whom  he  had  ''lived  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  passing  from  a  young  to  an  old  man." 
No  prophet  ever  consecrated  himself  to  his  duty  more  rever 
ently  than  did  he  in  the  sad  moment  of  leavetaking,  when 
the  shadow  of  the  premonition  that  he  was  never  to  return 
was,  as  his  words  show,  even  then  upon  him. 

But  we  revere  in  him  also  the  American  statesman.  This 
term  has  cheapened  by  misapplication  in  these  times.  Were 
it  not  that  in  recent  years  some  men  of  light  and  leading 
have  taken  their  seat  in  the  council  of  the  nation,  the  plaint 
of  the  Biblical  writer  would  be  in  place,  "In  those  days 
the  giants  were  on  earth."  Liberty-baptized,  the  American 
people  is  withal  conservative  and  cautious.  In  this  it  is  of 
other  fibre  than  the  Gallic  devotees  of  liberty,  equality,  and 
fraternity  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine.  The  strong  strain  of 
Teutonic  Anglo-Saxon  in  our  blood,  and  the  Puritan — almost 
Hebraic — reverence  for  law  as  the  proclamation  of  Divine 
Will,  accounts  for  this  bent  of  ours.  We  are  not  mercurial. 
We  do  not  boil  over.  Our  revolutions  have  not  been  cradled 
in  the  cavern  of  the  hurricane  and  tornado. 

Our  institutions  do  not  encourage  Titanic  uprisings  under 
the  discontent  of  an  evil  hour.  They  take  away  all  pre 
tence  of  justification  for  indulgence  in  violent  methods. 
Freedom  of  speech  and  press  afford  outlet  for  pent-up  indig 
nation,  and  offer  a  forum  for  just  criticism.  Our  political 
institutions  correspond  to  the  temperament  of  this  nation, 
freedom's  elect.  They  are  preventive  of  revolution  because 
they  are  adaptable  to  the  growing  needs  and  deepening  wis 
dom  which  evolution  brings  in  its  quiet  course.  Our  Con 
stitution  is  a  conservative  document.  Discriminating  and 
keeping  distinct,  but  interdependent,  the  various  functions  of 
organized  government,  it  is  as  justly  balanced  as  the  rock  which 
takes  from  it  its  name,  and  which  may  be  swayed  by  a  child, 
yet  has  all  the  elements  of  strength  and  endurance.  In  cre 
ating  the  Supreme  Court,  this  instrument  provided  an  agency 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  83 

through  which  the  growing  life  of  the  nation  could  be  incor 
porated  into  this  bill  of  rights.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
Convention  which  framed  the  charter  of  American  liberty  and 
devised  the  means  for  legislation,  adjudication,  and  adminis 
tration  to  make  liberty  effective  as  law,  merely  modelled 
the  dead  material.  It  was  the  Supreme  Court  that  breathed 
into  it  the  spirit  of  life.  That  instrument,  like  all  that 
comes  from  the  hand  of  man,  was  not  perfect.  It  was  the 
child  of  compromise  and  concession.  It  left  unsettled  a  very 
important  issue.  Was  the  United  States  a  mere  federation 
of  sovereign  States  or  did  the  States  derive  their  sovereignty 
from  that  of  the  Nation  ? 

This  perplexity  would  not  have  been  fraught  with  grave 
peril,  had  not,  at  the  same  time,  the  legacy  of  slavery  been  left 
to  the  young  Kepublic.  Soon  after  the  birth  of  the  United 
States,  the  harvest  of  this  original  sin  began  to  ripen.  Forty 
years  of  wandering  in  the  wilderness,  compromise,  and  tem 
porizing  retarded  the  entrance  into  the  Promised  Land  of 
peace.  Passions  and  distrusts,  not  the  cloud  of  God  nor  the 
pillar  of  divine  light  by  night,  decided  the  route.  In  New 
England  first,  the  old  Puritan  found  its  voice  of  protest.  It 
woke  a  ready  echo  in  the  young  West.  When  Lincoln  made 
his  bow  on  the  stage  of  public  and  political  life,  slavery  and 
its  extension  into  new  territory  was  dividing  the  people,  and 
keeping  the  public  mind  at  fever  heat.  His  elevation  to  the 
presidency  sent  the  nation  into  the  valley  of  decision,  a  valley 
which  at  times  took  on  the  terrible  aspect  of  the  "  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death."  Statesman  Lincoln  had  defined  his 
position  clearly  in  the  historic  debates  with  Douglas.  Not  a 
politician  of  the  modern  cast,  but  one  of  the  old  mould, 
knowing  that  party  is  a  means  to  an  end  and  patriotism 
must  sanctify  partisanship,  he  spoke  out  when  silence  and 
ambiguity  might  have  been  personally  more  profitable  for 
him.  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand" — this 
prediction  cost  him  the  senatorship,  but  won  him  the  presi 
dency.  And  yet  when  the  responsibility  of  the  high  trust 
was  laid  on  him,  to  many  he  seemed,  all  of  a  sudden,  to  be 
struck  with  hesitating  indecision.  The  Abolitionists  were  not 


84.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

slow  to  utter  their  bitter  impatience.  In  his  biding  his  time 
he  displayed  his  mastership  as  a  statesman.  The  deliberate- 
ness  of  his  executive  action  reflects  the  sterling  conservatism 
of  his  Americanism. 

No  other  man  ever  ascended  throne,  or  assumed  the  pilot's 
charge  of  the  Ship  of  State,  under  more  disheartening  cir 
cumstances — the  nation  cleft  into  two — the  North,  not  a 
united  band,  to  support  him — the  enemy  prepared,  the  Union 
unequipped!  Armies  had  to  be  created,  navies  had  to  be 
built,  the  treasury  had  to  be  filled,  the  finances  put  on  a  work 
able  basis,  the  jealousy  of  the  European  nations  to  be  dis 
armed  and  thwarted.  Lincoln  had  loyal  helpers,  men  of 
genius  and  of  eminent  power  of  organization.  Yet  his  was 
the  supreme  responsibility.  He,  the  man  of  tender,  sympa 
thetic  heart,  had  to  give  the  word  that  sent  thousands  to 
their  death,  millions  into  the  furnace  of  fire.  No  wonder  that 
his  face  assumed  an  expression  of  deep  sadness.  It  seemed  as 
though  in  the  lines  of  his  brow,  in  the  look  of  his  eyes,  were 
symbolized  all  the  pathos  of  those  four  years  of  doubt  and 
daring,  of  suffering  and  striving.  Republics  are  never  so  well 
armored  for  the  bloody  business  of  war  as  are  autocracies. 
Where  the  king 's  will  is  the  supreme  law,  the  petty  bickerings 
among  the  chieftains  are  soon  hushed.  Not  so  in  a  Republic. 
Cooperation  among  the  various  commanders  is  much  more 
difficult  to  secure.  With  all  this  and  worse,  Lincoln  had  to 
contend.  He  bore  his  cross  cheerfully,  for  he  had  an  abiding 
faith  in  the  destiny  of  his  nation,  a  wonderful  confidence  in 
the  loyalty  of  the  common  people.  What  share  he  had  in 
directing  to  final  and  glorious  victory  the  engine  of  war,  what 
his  part  in  the  financing  of  the  gigantic  combat,  what  inspira 
tion  came  from  him  in  the  work  of  keeping  the  European 
detractors  of  our  liberty  at  bay,  we  know  better  than  they  that 
lived  through  those  terrible  years  of  suspense  and  darkness. 
Latest  memoirs  of  the  chief  actors  in  this  stupendous  drama 
have  thrown  onto  the  screen  the  astounding  certainty  that 
this  country-bred,  lank,  lean  lawyer  proved  to  be  a  strategist 
of  no  mean  calibre,  a  financier  of  high  resourcefulness,  a 
diplomat  of  wide  outlook.  He  was  a  statesman  who  has  had, 


o     c 
»' 


8     o 


" 


Tomb    of   Stephen   A.  Douglas,  Chicago 
(Located  at  foot  of  Thirty-fifth  Street  on  Lake  Michigan) 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  85 

and  will  have,  but  few  peers  and  no  superior  in  the  annals  of 
the  onflowing  centuries. 

We  sons  of  Illinois  particularly  rejoice  that  he  was  ours. 
We  gave  him  to  the  Union.  Among  us  he  spent  his  years  of 
preparation.  It  is  significant  that  the  President  that  saved 
the  nation  was  a  Western  man.  The  issues  around  which  the 
War  was  fought  had  indeed  become  acute  in  measure  as  the 
West  became  a  factor  in  the  destiny  of  the  nation.  Were 
the  new  States  to  be  kept  clean  of  the  blight  of  slavery? 
That  was  the  pith  of  the  dispute.  The  wheat  and  corn  belt 
would  not  pay  homage  to  King  Cotton.  It  seemed  to  be  in 
the  order  of  things  that  the  leader  should  hail  from  the  West. 
Western  regiments,  in  sober  truth,  composed  the  elite  of  the 
army,  as  the  West  had  been  the  most  pronounced  adversary 
of  State  rights  and  secession.  This  West  was  peopled  by  im 
migrants.  They  had  pilgrimed  with  the  sun  from  New  Eng 
land,  the  classic  home  of  Pilgrim  civilization;  and  then  from 
Germany,  lovers  of  freedom,  idealists,  and  dreamers,  yet 
sturdy  farmers  and  clear  thinkers  withal;  and  also  from 
Ireland,  carrying  with  them  the  hatred  of  despotism  and  the 
flaming  courage  to  dare  and  to  do.  These  new  wheat  fields 
furnished  sustenance  to  the  fighting  nation.  Their  wealth 
made  good  the  deficiency  caused  by  the  blockaded  shore  line 
of  the  cotton-raising  States,  for  cotton  had  been  the  nation's 
means  of  exchange  for  Europe's  advances  in  money  and  am 
munition. 

The  ways  of  Providence  are  strange.  Three  days  after 
Lincoln's  birth,  another  American  was  laid  into  his  mother's 
arms,  who  was  to  revolutionize  the  patriarchal  methods  of 
bringing  into  the  granary  the  fruit  of  the  field — Cyrus 
McCormick,  the  inventor  of  the  reaper.  His  invention,  per 
fected  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  War,  multiplied 
every  arm  on  the  field,  and  in  the  barn,  and  on  the  threshing 
floor,  tenfold.  The  time  element  was  reduced  most  mar 
vellously  in  the  equation  of  harvesting.  Thus  the  rich  acres 
of  the  West  could  spare  the  sturdy  men  that  enlisted  in  the 
Union's  battalions,  and  yet  their  blessing,  the  staff  of  life, 
which  they  offered  so  abundantly,  could  be  milled  and  mar- 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

keted.  The  West  was  made  available  for  the  defense  of  the 
flag  by  McCormick's  mechanical  substitute  for  human  hands. 
The  President  from  the  West,  when  the  first  victories  also 
were  those  won  by  the  Western  army  corps  under  generals 
from  the  West,  saw  the  dawn  of  peace  light  up  the  sky  with 
new  hope,  but  then — another  Moses,  vouchsafed  merely  a 
prophetic  vision  of  the  realization — he  had  to  lay  down  his 
life  that  the  new  covenant  of  love  might  be  firmly  sealed  by 
his  blood. 

When  he  fell,  the  world  wept.  They  that  but  yesterday 
had  carried  the  musket  for  the  defense  of  what  they  believed 
to  be  their  rights,  the  men  who  wore  the  battle-tattered  gray, 
felt  that  in  him  they  lost  their  truest  friend.  Monarchs  shed 
a  tear  at  his  bier.  The  noblest  of  rulers  had  ascended  to 
glory.  They  knew  none  to  the  purple  born  who  bore  es 
cutcheon  more  lustrous  than  was  his,  the  great  commoner's. 

But  we  at  this  hour  must  not  forget  that  memory  spells 
also  monition.  How  do  we  measure  up  against  him?  He 
laid  tribute  on  the  graves  of  those  that  died  that  the  govern 
ment  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people  might 
not  perish.  No  enemy  from  without,  indeed,  is  threatening 
the  permanence  of  our  institutions,  the  independence  of  our 
State,  the  prosperity  of  our  people.  We  have  been  garnering 
the  harvest  of  the  day  of  Appomattox.  Ours  is  now  a  world 
empire.  But  is  ours,  for  all  this,  a  government  of  the  peo 
ple?  Is  it  not  a  government  of  politicians,  for  politicians? 
Serious  question  this,  inviting  searching  of  the  heart.  Has 
increase  in  wealth  tended  to  undemocratize  our  manners, 
our  ambitions?  Has  it  obscured  our  ideals,  placed  near  the 
altar  new,  strange  deities  wrought  of  gold?  Are  these  the 
Gods  that  have  led  us  forth  out  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  crucible 
of  trial  and  distress?  Has  there  been  profounder  reverence 
for  law  among  us,  the  heirs  of  the  men  that  were  giants  in 
those  gigantic  days? 

Great  men  are  mountain  peaks.  As  we  look  up  toward  the 
peak  named  the  Martyr-Saviour-President,  shall  the  lifted 
finger,  tipped  with  the  gold  of  glorious  sunshine,  not  be  for 
us  sign  and  symbol  that  our  way  shall  lead  upwards?  The 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  87 

mountain  range  of  which  he  is  the  highest  point  embraces 
many  crests.  Grant,  Seward,  Stanton,  Sherman,  Sheridan, 
Logan,  Schurz,  Sumner,  Morton,  Yates,  Curtis,  and  a  host  of 
other  names  tell  their  significance.  Yet  high  as  they  are, 
their  height  is  worthily  crowned  and  completed  in  the  one 
that  stands  out  above  all  in  superb  majesty — Abraham  Lin 
coln. 


THE  GREATEST  APOSTLE  OF  HUMAN  LIBERTY 

(A  Speech  of  Introduction)* 

COL.    JOHN  R.    MARSHALL 

NONE  of  the  many  exercises  held  to  commemorate  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  world's  greatest  cit 
izen,  is  more  significant  and  fitting  than  the  one  we  are 
about  to  begin.  I  say  this:  No  race  of  people  within  the 
borders  of  our  common  country  can  appreciate  so  much  the 
greatest  apostle  of  human  liberty  as  can  the  negro  race. 
The  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  will  live  always,  wherever 
the  cause  of  liberty  and  freedom  is  revered.  His  name  was 
near  and  dear  to  the  hearts  of  every  negro  in  the  darkest 
and  most  perilous  hour  of  the  nation.  The  time  was  when 
our  faith  in  him  was  strained  and  taxed  to  the  utmost;  but 
it  never  failed,  for  he  felt,  in  spite  of  the  dark  clouds  that 
hovered  around  and  about  us,  that  the  hour  and  the  instru 
ment  of  our  redemption  had  met  in  the  person  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

And  so  we  are  here  to  express  our  gratitude  for  the  vast 
preeminent  services  rendered  to  our  race  and  to  the  nation 
by  that  great  emancipator,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

On  behalf  of  the  Lincoln  Memorial  Centennial  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Mayor  of  our  city,  I  take  great  pleasure  in 
introducing  as  the  chairman  of  the  evening,  Dr.  A.  J.  Carey. 

*  Delivered  before  the  meeting  of  the  Eighth  Infantry  (Colored),  and 
the  Colored  Citizens'  Committee. 


88 


THE  UNFINISHED  TASK 
(A  Speech  of  Introduction}* 

REV.   A.    J.    CAREY 

ONE  hundred  years  ago  to-day  the  wilds  of  Kentucky 
gave  to  America  an  American,  rugged  as  his  surround 
ings  in  all  save  his  kindliness  of  spirit,  unprepossessing  in 
all  save  his  beauty  of  soul.  The  world  saw  him  while  he 
lived,  as  through  a  glass,  darkly.  To-day  the  vision  becomes 
more  distinct,  although  not  altogether  clear. 

The  heroic  effort  made  this  week  by  old  America  in  mem 
ory,  by  new  America  in  prophecy,  to  find  itself,  to  know 
itself,  is  worthy  of  so  noble  an  occasion.  From  church,  from 
schoolhouse,  from  college,  and  from  public  hall  one  and  the 
same  strain  floats  forth:  " Lincoln,  Liberty,  and  Love." 
The  quiet  of  the  private  home,  the  noises  of  the  busy  mart, 
are  lost  in  one  great  anthem,  one  mighty  paean  of  praise. 

That  marvel  of  the  twentieth  century,  the  daily  press,  has 
labored  overtime  that  none  may  be  ignorant,  that  even  the 
humblest  may  know  and  receive  inspiration  from  Lincoln 's  life 
and  times.  The  minor  strain,  the  note  of  regret,  is,  that  the 
life  then  just  beginning  should  have  been  laid  so  untimely 
as  a  sacrifice  on  its  country's  altar,  leaving  its  task  un 
finished. 

The  unfinished  task,  who  will  assume  it?  The  task  of 
loving  the  nation — not  the  sections  simply  but  the  nation — 
into  one;  the  task  of  throwing  himself  with  God,  and  count 
ing  a  majority  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed ;  the  task  of  doing 
the  right  as  God  gives  him  to  see  the  right. 

If  the  spirit  world  has  interest  in  this  material  world, 
how  depressed  must  be  the  spirit  of  Lincoln  at  the  backward 
swinging  of  the  pendulum,  at  the  retreat  of  American  senti- 

*  Delivered  before  the  meeting  of  the  Eighth  Infantry  (Colored), 
and  the  Colored  Citizens'  Committee. 

89 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ment  from  the  glory-crowned  heights  of  freedom  for  all,  to  the 
valley  of  restriction  and  class  legislation.  The  call  of  the 
sixties  was  for  a  man  of  heroic  mould,  a  man  who  had  been 
"driven  many  times  to  his  knees  by  the  overwhelming  con 
viction  that  he  had  nowhere  else  to  go."  Such  was  the  call 
and  Lincoln  was  its  answer. 

The  call  in  this,  the  morning  of  the  twentieth  century,  is 
for  a  character  no  less  true,  a  soul  no  less  courageous,  a 
spirit  no  less  reliant  upon  its  God — another  man  who  will 
rise  up  and  say,  "The  nation  cannot  live  on  in  justice. " 
Whence  next  will  come  the  answer  ?  for  come  it  will  and  come 
it  must.  The  country  still  lives  upon  Lincoln's  ideals;  still 
grows  because  of  his  sacrifices;  and  still  marches  in  his  spirit 
to  meet  and  master  the  problems  of  to-day,  whether  social, 
industrial,  or  racial. 

In  him  we  have  found  the  sources  of  abiding,  conquering 
character.  With  him  we  have  seen  that  to  "allow  all  the 
governed  an  equal  voice  in  the  government — that,  and  that 
alone  is  self-government."  With  him  we  have  seen  that  "in 
giving  freedom  to  the  slave" — physical  freedom,  intellectual 
freedom,  political  freedom — we  assure  freedom  to  the  free. 

Nothing  stamped  with  the  Divine  image  was  sent  into  the 
world  to  be  trodden  on,  to  be  degraded  and  imbruted  by 
his  fellows,  and  he  who  denies  to  the  weakest  of  mankind  the 
right,  the  privilege,  the  opportunity  of  rising  to  his  greatest 
possibilities,  not  only  displays  his  own  cowardice  and  weak 
ness  but  robs  posterity  of  a  legacy  which  a  life  enriched  and 
glorified  might  bequeath  to  coming  generations. 

It  is  not  Lincoln,  the  lawyer,  nor  Lincoln  the  politician, 
nor  even  Lincoln  the  statesman  that  will  survive;  but  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  the  friend  of  the  oppressed,  the  champion  of 
human  rights,  the  great  emancipator.  Of  him  we  speak  and 
in  his  memory  are  we  gathered,  and  with  him  we  are  dedi 
cating  ourselves  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us,  the 
task  remaining  before  this  nation,  the  cherished  hope  of  his 
life,  "that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 


THE  LIBERATION  OP  THE  NEGRO  * 

REV.   J.   W.   E.   BOWEN 

EVEN  the  schoolboy  of  to-day  may  easily  interest  an 
audience  upon  any  phase  of  the  life  and  deeds  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  It  is  not  a  difficult  task,  therefore,  to  gain 
attention,  for  the  life  of  the  man  is  full,  his  deeds  are  per 
manent,  and  his  character  is  far-reaching  in  the  superb  and 
dominating  elements  that  are  appreciated  by  all  mankind. 
I  take  it  that  the  best  thing  to  do  on  this  occasion  is  to  call 
your  attention  to  some  of  the  fundamental  ideas  that  crys 
tallized  into  deeds  of  the  immortal  Lincoln. 

The  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  should  be  spoken  with  one  breath.  It  is  im 
possible  to  separate  them.  But  there  is  more  to  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation  in  its  essence  and  truth  than  the  mere 
removing  of  the  shackles  of  the  slave,  and  the  freeing  of 
man  from  between  the  plough  handles  to  enter  the  battle  of 
life.  Larger  results  were  contemplated  by  Lincoln  than  the 
liberation  of  dumb  driven  cattle  from  between  the  plough 
handles  of  the  South.  Mightier  results  were  before  him 
than  merely  to  see  four  millions  of  ignorant  and  stupid 
blacks  set  free  upon  this  American  continent.  His  thought 
reached  beyond  the  liberation  of  hand  and  foot.  He  who 
knocks  the  manacles  from  the  wrists  of  the  slave  has  done 
a  great  thing;  but  that  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  work 
of  emancipation.  Utter,  complete  emancipation,  not  only  of 
hand  and  foot,  but  of  mind  and  heart,  and  a  complete  amal 
gamation  into  the  body  politic  as  a  citizen  of  the  mighty 
Republic,  is  the  ultimate  hope  and  the  larger  result  to  be 

*  An  address  delivered  before  the  meeting  of  the  Eighth  Infantry 
(Colored),  and  the  Colored  Citizens'  Committee. 

91 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

looked  forward  to  as  the  outcome  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  slave. 

We  have  come  to  a  period  in  the  discussion  of  this  question 
when  we  must  regard  truth  and  not  sentiment;  when  we 
must  see  fact  and  logic,  and  not  be  driven  by  whim.  No 
race  can  be  fully  set  free  by  shot  and  shell.  Gunpowder 
cannot  liberate  a  man  in  the  truest  and  fullest  sense  of 
the  term.  Shot  and  shell  make  a  beginning;  but  freedom 
is  not  "of  the  earth,  earthy."  Abraham  Lincoln  repre 
sented  the  American  nationality — the  American  nationalism, 
— a  mighty  thought. 

We  have  the  proudest  Republic  under  the  sun.  It  is  a 
Republic  not  composed  of  white  men  nor  of  Hack  men,  but 
of  men,  free  men.  Freedmen  do  not  make  a  Republic. 
This  is  a  Republic  of  men — free  men,  in  the  broadest  sense 
of  the  term.  The  removal  of  the  shackles  is  only  the  be 
ginning  of  the  mighty  battle  in  life  wherein  the  slave  is  to 
be  ultimately  redeemed  and  incorporated  into  the  body  politic 
as  a  factor  in  the  life  of  the  American  nation.  This  period 
is  one  in  which  the  battle  is  of  thought  and  ideas;  it  is  a 
battle  for  the  supremacy  in  thought-products,  in  the  mas 
tery  of  the  forces  of  nature  in  producing  those  elements  that 
contribute  to  the  advancement  of  civilization,  and  only  the 
man  who  contributes  to  this  desired  end  should  be  incorpo 
rated  ultimately  into  this  body  politic.  It  is  time  that  we 
should  face  this  great  question  that  fundamentally  affects 
citizenship. 

I  am  not  afraid  to  use  a  term  here  which  I  can  explain 
satisfactorily  to  any  thinking  man.  Lincoln's  idea  and  the 
idea  of  the  broadest  statesman  was  that  the  liberated  slave 
should  ultimately  become  amalgamated  with  the  American 
Republic  and  become  a  member  of  this  great  nation.  For, 
as  he  said,  "The  nation  cannot  long  survive,  permanently 
survive,  one  half  free  and  one  half  slave."  Even  so,  like 
wise,  it  cannot  permanently  survive  with  a  great  body  of 
freedmen  that  have  no  right  and  title  in  the  Republic  as 
citizens  to  help  direct  its  life  and  establish  its  destiny. 

The  American  negro  must  understand  that  he  must  enter  the 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  93 

battle  of  life  and  fight  to-day  the  mightiest  battle  on  the  face 
of  the  globe.  No  man  in  the  flesh  has  ever  had  such  a  con 
flict  before  him.  It  is  the  most  difficult  and  the  most  danger 
ous  undertaking  on  this  footstool.  For,  look  at  the  conditions 
that  have  surrounded  him.  He  came  from  between  the 
plough  handles,  with  only  a  knowledge  of  ploughing.  He 
was  thrown  into  the  lap  of  this  mighty  Christian  civilization, 
and  he  was  given  the  right  of  citizenship — a  fearful  boon 
to  confer  upon  any  unprepared  man  in  any  Republic.  For 
the  man  who  has  the  right  to  vote,  has  the  right  to  be  voted 
for. 

I  have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  it  was  hazardous  at 
the  time  to  place  in  the  hands  of  these  ignorant  ex-slaves 
the  ballot.  Hear  me  through  upon  this  dangerous  question. 
I  recognize  that  I  am  now  walking  upon  eggs.  I  also  recog 
nize  that  there  are  some  eggs  that  should  be  walked  upon. 

Look,  if  you  please,  at  the  pedigree  of  the  ancient  black 
slave.  What  did  he  have  behind  him?  The  story  is  a 
pathetic  one.  It  is  one  that  is  full  of  sorrow  and  of  intense 
interest.  From  the  mud  puddles  of  Africa,  in  the  Provi 
dence  of  God  he  was  dragged,  as  it  were,  with  hooks  of 
steel,  and  transplanted  upon  this  American  continent. 
There  was  nothing  back  of  him  of  which  he  could  be  proud — 
no  illustrious  pedigree.  His  firmament  was  a  starless  firma 
ment;  his  history  was  unproductive  of  great  men  or  great 
women.  When  I  think  of  what  he  came  from,  the  story  of 
the  young  son  of  the  Grand  Marshal  of  Paris  comes  to  my 
mind.  This  young  man  was  walking  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
one  day,  when  a  company  of  young  Frenchmen  gathered 
around  him  and  began  to  taunt  him.  One  of  them  said, 
"I  have  the  blood  of  a  duke  in  me.  What  blood  is  in  you, 
sir?"  Another  said,  "I  can  trace  my  ancestry  back  to  a 
queen.  How  far  back  can  you  go,  sir?"  And  a  third  one 
piped  up  and  said,  "I  can  go  back,  back,  back  to  the  mighty 
days  of  Charlemagne.  How  far  back  can  you  go,  sir?" 
Finally  the  last  one  lifted  his  voice  and  said,  "I  can  trace 
my  ancestry  back,  back,  back,  away  beyond  the  mythological 
days  of  Julius  Caesar  when  the  Druids  drank  the  blood  of 


94  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

their  victims  out  of  the  skulls  of  the  dead.  How  far  back 
can  you  go,  sir?"  Then  the  young  man  rose,  his  eye  as 
the  wing  of  the  raven  under  the  blaze  of  the  sun,  and  shouted 
back  to  them  and  said,  "Gentlemen,  you  are  descendants;  I 
am  an  ancestor.  Your  history  has  been  written;  I  am  going 
to  write  one.  You  have  been  made;  I  am  going  to  make 
somebody ! ' ' 

I  look  about  me  upon  this  platform  and  I  see  representa 
tives  of  the  mighty  race  that  lived  in  the  days  when  the  great 
Irish  bishop  drove  the  snakes  out  of  Ireland.  I  see  here  at 
my  left,  and  at  my  right,  and  just  behind  me,  and  all  through 
the  audience,  representatives  of  that  mighty  yeomanry  that 
stood  in  the  presence  of  the  weakling  King  John,  and  com 
pelled  him  to  sign  "Magna  Charta,"  to  assure  the  rights  of 
the  people  of  England.  I  look  at  others.  Who  are  these 
men  ?  These  are  the  descendants  of  the  men  who  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  mighty  Gustavus,  who,  singing  the  battle 
hymn  of  Martin  Luther,  bit  the  dust  and  died  for  the  liber 
ties  of  his  people.  These  men  had  ancestors  who  were  kings 
and  queens,  who  were  the  writers  and  wreckers  of  constitu 
tions  and  of  governments;  ancestors  who  wrote  books  of  law 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  nations;  ancestors  who  were 
mighty  with  pen  and  sword,  who  dominated  the  forces  of 
sky  and  earth.  These  white  men  who  sit  here  in  the  pride 
of  American  citizenship  are  the  descendants  of  an  illustrious 
ancestry.  But  who  am  I?  Where  did  I  come  from? 

I  dare  not  step  back  one  foot  lest  I  fall  into  the  pit  from 
which  God  Almighty,  through  Abraham  Lincoln,  digged  me. 
Even  now,  with  the  memory  of  my  ancestors  illuminating  my 
brain,  I  can  hear  the  pathetic  wail  of  the  bloodhound  that 
tracked  them  through  the  South.  I  have  no  kings  and  proph 
ets  back  of  me.  No  queens  illuminate  the  firmament  of  my 
history.  No  men  who  wrote  constitutions  and  laid  the  foun 
dations  of  a  government  are  back  of  me. 

Who  am  I?  The  blue-eyed  Saxon  had  his  history  written; 
the  black-eyed  Hamite  will  write  his.  He  has  been  made;  I 
am  going  to  make  somebody.  "He  is  a  descendant;  I  am 
an  ancestor!"  It  is  my  business  since  the  Proclamation  has 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  95 

been  written,  to  take  hold  of  the  mass  of  my  ignorant  people 
of  the  South — docile,  tractable,  easily  moulded  and  easily 
guided — and  mould  them,  and  make  a  mighty  people  out 
of  them.  Once  upon  a  time  I  used  to  be  disturbed  when  it 
was  said  that  the  negro  came  from  the  monkey,  the  baboon, 
the  chimpanzee,  and  the  gorilla  of  Africa.  I  can  remember 
attending  a  white  Sunday-school  where  the  superintendent, 
an  old  shouting  Methodist,  once  made  my  boyish  teeth 
chatter  and  my  knees  smite  each  other  by  saying,  "Boys, 
I  don't  know  where  you  came  from;  it  is  said  you  came 
from  the  monkeys  of  Africa."  And  I  can  remember  how  I 
trembled.  To  this  day,  with  certain  people,  if  you  want 
to  throw  a  wet  blanket  over  the  meeting,  mention  monkeys. 
Now  it  does  not  trouble  me  one  whit.  If  any  man  can  show 
by  history,  Bible,  logic,  or  fact  that  I  am  a  descendant  from 
the  baboon  of  Africa,  I  will  prove  that  a  baboon  can  have  a 
respectable  son.  I  don't  care  for  a  past.  I  ask  to-day, 
" Where  are  you  going?"  "What  are  you?"  not  "Where 
did  you  come  from  ? "  I  don 't  care  whether  I  had  any  grand 
fathers  or  not.  I  don't  want  to  be  an  angel;  I  want  to  be  a 
man — not  a  black  man,  but  a  man  though  black. 

In  this  mighty  country  we  have  a  Republic  that  is  based, 
not  upon  the  color  of  the  skin  but  upon  a  national  idea. 
Nationalism  makes  a  Republic,  and  not  blood  or  color.  In 
the  ancient  days  of  Greece  and  in  the  present  days  of  Italy, 
China,  and  Japan,  blood  makes  a  nation.  Blood  may  make  a 
race  or  an  ancient  nation,  but  blood  does  not  make  a  Democ 
racy;  it  does  not  make  a  nation  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
term.  In  this  country  we  have  all  races,  all  types  of  man 
kind  to  make  the  American  Republic.  You  sang  here  this 
evening  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  You  doubtless  have 
sung  already  to-day  or  will  sing,  "My  country,  'T  is  of 
Thee."  That  spirit  of  sentiment  makes  a  citizen  of  a  Re 
public — the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  flag,  to  the  Consti 
tution,  and  to  the  institutions  of  the  land.  But  you  must 
understand  that  the  conditions  of  life  favor  you  in  the 
battle  and  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  We  must  struggle 
for  the  preservation  of  the  nation,  the  building  up  of  one 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

homogeneous  nation;  not  homogeneous  in  its  blood  but  ho 
mogeneous  in  its  Nationalism.  I  want  to  say  I  have  no  fears 
as  to  the  twaddle  and  superficial  talk  about  the  destruction 
of  the  bloods  of  mankind,  for  down  underneath  all  of  this 
frothy  discussion  there  is  but  one  race  and  it  is  homogeneous 
in  its  divine  endowments. 

It  is  not  my  place  to  discuss  a  theory  of  the  library,  but  to 
face  the  facts  of  life ;  namely,  just  as  you  are,  just  where  you 
are,  in  the  station  of  life  you  are  in,  you  must  fight  the  battle 
of  life.  And  it  is  a  fight  in  which  superiority  will  manifest 
itself  in  the  ultimate  development  of  character. 

Finally,  the  character  of  the  individual,  in  his  mind  power, 
his  heart  power,  his  hand  power,  and  in  the  production  of 
those  elements  that  are  the  best,  constitutes  the  superiority 
of  man.  In  this  development  and  in  this  tremendous  strug 
gle  we  have  a  part  and  lot.  Starting  with  very  little  to  un 
learn,  with  everything  to  learn,  with  all  the  benefits  of  a 
western  civilization  within  hand-reach,  the  American  negro, 
in  the  face  of  untoward  circumstances  has  made  tremendous 
strides  towards  victory.  I  grant  that  there  are  obstacles,  and 
I  don't  weep  over  obstacles.  Though  he  is  crowded  back 
at  times,  I  am  not  discouraged. 

I  come  from  a  section  where,  if  a  black  man  gets  anything, 
he  gets  it  upon  sheer  merit.  He  has  to  struggle  in  the  face 
of  opposition;  and  yet,  after  all,  he  is  winning  his  way  in 
the  accumulation  of  property,  in  the  estimation  of  good  men 
and  good  women;  he  is  making  character,  and  we-  believe 
down  in  Georgia — down  there  where  occasionally  we  string 
a  man  up — we  believe,  we  black  men  and  white  men,  that 
down  there  in  Georgia,  we  will  fight  this  battle  out  and  win 
it.  All  around  us  representative  white  men  rise  up  and 
say  to  us:  "Stand  your  ground,  we  will  stand  with  you." 
Some  of  the  best  men  are  fighting  with  us  and  are  standing 
at  our  side. 

This  celebration  of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth 
day  of  the  great,  martyred  War  President  is  observed  all  over 
the  country,  and  we  believe  that  ultimately  we  shall  have 
a  nation  in  this  country  that  is  united  in  its  faith,  in  its 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  97 

zeal,  in  its  absolute  equality  of  political  prerogatives,  in  its 
great  purpose  to  make  this  the  proudest  nation  on  the  face 
of  the  earth. 

Just  one  other  thought  and  then  I  am  through.  You  must 
remember  that  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  in  the  great  State  of 
Illinois,  you  have  your  part  to  do  in  this  great  battle.  You 
have  greater  privileges  than  we  have  in  the  black  belt  of 
Alabama.  Every  door  is  open  to  you.  You  have  yet  to 
show  in  the  years  to  come  that  you  can  wring  out  of  your 
privileges  the  large  good  that  we  have  wrung  out  of  our 
disadvantages.  In  university  life,  in  trades,  in  the  accumu 
lation  of  wealth,  in  the  building  of  an  honest  character,  in 
the  making  of  men  in  face  of  difficulty  without  being  dis 
couraged,  in  meeting  opposition  without  taking  to  the  woods, 
you  have  yet  to  show  that  you  can  surpass  your  brethren 
on  the  plains  of  Texas. 

I  believe  that  we  shall  ultimately  conquer  in  this  great 
battle  of  life.  We  have  great  problems  before  us — great 
questions  are  under  discussion.  The  negro  should  become 
a  participant  in  the  discussions  and  contribute  to  the  life 
of  the  nation.  I  am  glad  of  this  privilege  to  bring  this  word 
of  encouragement  to  you  from  the  far  South,  from  the  land 
where  you  think  it  is  extremely  hard.  Yes,  it  is  hard,  in 
some  places.  You  have  opportunities  here  that  I  sometimes 
covet,  but  I  would  prefer  to  ride  in  a  box  car  in  the  South 
as  a  man  doing  something,  fighting  a  battle,  to  riding  in 
a  palace  car  up  here  and  generally  doing  nothing  else. 

You  must  liberate  yourselves ;  you  must  not  have  anything 
more  done  for  you.  Legislation  cannot  make  men,  it  can 
only  prepare  the  way  for  the  development  of  men.  Law 
never  makes  one  man  equal  to  another  man ;  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  equality  of  manhood,  and  the  American  nation  does 
not  believe  in  this  figment.  You  cannot  make  me  believe 
that  a  certain  black  man  is  equal  to  a  certain  white  man ;  and 
you  would  have  a  hard  job  to  persuade  me  that  a  certain 
white  man  is  equal  to  a  certain  black  man. 

Races  differ,  like  individuals.  They  differ  in  their  apti 
tudes,  in  their  intellectual  capacity.  The  mighty  German 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

race  is  philosophic  in  its  temper;  the  versatile  Frenchman  is 
mathematical  in  his  make-up;  the  unconquered  Anglo-Saxon 
is  the  scientist  and  the  moralist  of  the  world ;  and  the  negro  is 
the  musician  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  a  man  must  himself  make  himself  superior. 
You  must  make  yourselves,  you  must  liberate  yourselves. 
Brain,  cultivated  brain,  educated  brain,  skilled  hands,  a 
divine  heart,  a  noble  purpose,  lofty  ideals,  the  vision  that 
reaches  to  the  White  Throne,  make  men — nothing  else.  You 
must  not  measure  the  man  by  the  color  of  his  skin.  Great 
as  Abraham  Lincoln  was,  he  was  not  great  because  he  was 
white.  He  was  great  because  he  had  a  great  soul  in  him. 

The  man  of  backbone  has  heart  and  will  and  courage  and 
skill.  The  race  is  yours.  Enter  the  battle.  Don't  ask  to 
be  given  a  chance.  Don't  plead  for  a  chance.  Enter  the 
race.  Make  a  chance.  Take  a  chance.  Fight  the  battle  of 
life,  and  the  time  will  come  when  the  gray  morn  shall  usher 
in  that  beautiful  day  when  we  shall  be  able  to  say,  "It  is 
daybreak  everywhere." 


LINCOLN:    THE  FRIEND  OF  ALL  MEN* 

NATHAN  WILLIAM  MAC  CHESNET 

IT  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  in  the  celebration  of  the  Centen 
ary  of  Lincoln  you  should  have  a  conspicuous  part.  Surely 
no  one  has  a  larger  interest  in  Abraham  Lincoln,  his  life 
and  his  services.  As  a  boy  I  was  brought  up  with  a  venera 
tion  for  him  second  only  to  that  for  the  great  Master  himself. 
My  father  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  him  intimately,  and  I 
have,  therefore,  in  connection  with  this  celebration,  felt,  in 
addition  to  the  great  interest  in  Lincoln  which  every  American 
citizen  must  have,  a  little  of  that  personal  interest  which  one 
may  sometimes  feel  because  of  his  father's  friendship  for 
the  man  himself. 

Lincoln  stood,  as  no  other  man  has  ever  stood,  for  the  ideals 
of  the  entire  nation.  He  was  the  embodiment  of  American 
ism.  It  is  seldom  that  a  man  can  be  looked  to  as  Lincoln  was 
by  all  classes  of  society,  by  all  sections,  by  all  nationalities. 
Yet  it  has  been  the  privilege  of  Lincoln  within  a  single  gen 
eration  to  come  to  the  position  where  tribute  to  him  knows 
no  sectional  lines — no  North,  no  South ;  no  East,  no  West ;  no 
rich,  no  poor ;  no  'Jew,  no  Gentile ;  no  white,  no  black ;  all  turn 
to  him  in  homage. 

It  matters  not  from  what  direction  we  view  Lincoln,  he 
appears  equally  great.  Most  men,  as  you  look  at  them,  seem 
to  have  a  narrow  side.  Not  so  with  him.  He  looms  as  large, 
in  our  estimate  of  him,  regardless  of  the  angle  of  approach. 
He  stood  for  the  equal  rights  of  man,  for  equal  opportunities 
for  all  men.  He  stood  for  freedom  of  labor  and  an  oppor 
tunity  on  the  part  of  every  man  to  earn  an  honest  living, 
uninterrupted  by  economic  conditions  or  political  restrictions. 

*An  address  delivered  before  the  Eighth  Infantry  (Colored),  and 
the  Colored  Citizens'  Committee. 

99 


100  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Would  that  his  spirit  might  inspire  this  nation,  as  never  before, 
as  the  result  of  this  celebration.  Lincoln  was  indeed,  as  I 
have  said,  the  very  apotheosis  of  citizenship.  We  have  deified 
him — and  very  justly  so — as  no  other  man  in  public  life,  until 
to-day  we  turn  to  him  with  very  worship,  because  he  stands 
for  our  ideals,  for  our  aspirations,  for  all  that  is  best  in  us 
and  in  our  nation,  and  as  the  hope  for  the  future. 

We  can  only  hope  that  this  observance  of  Lincoln  and  his 
life  and  deeds  will  not  end  with  this  night,  nor  with  the  cele 
bration  itself,  but  may  take  lasting  form  in  an  increase  in 
appreciation  of  the  principles  for  which  he  stood ;  in  a  deeper 
inculcation  of  those  principles  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people 
North  and  South,  in  order  that  his  ideas  and  ideals  may  be 
worked  out  through  the  political  institutions  of  this  country, 
as  he  desired  them  to  be. 

There  are  some  who  think  Lincoln  did  not  have  a  special 
interest  in  the  people  I  have  the  honor  of  addressing  to-night. 
I  think  they  are  very  poor  students  of  history.  They  have 
failed  to  catch  even  a  spark  of  the  genius  of  the  man  whose 
anniversary  they  are  celebrating.  They  have  failed  to  see 
that  heart,  kindled  for  the  interest  of  all  the  races,  as  was 
that  of  no  other  man  of  his  time.  It  is  true  he  refused  to 
sacrifice  the  Union  and  to  precipitate  a  crisis,  but  awaited  the 
strategic  moment  in  order  that  he  might  fulfil  a  life-long 
purpose  and  prove  to  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  that  the  fore 
fathers  knew  what  they  were  about,  and  that  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  means  what  it  says. 

I  have  no  patience  with  the  man  who  takes  the  view  that 
emancipation  was  a  mere  question  of  war  expediency,  who 
thinks  that  Lincoln  was  so  narrow  in  his  view,  and  who  re 
gards  with  prejudice  and  alarm  any  other  interpretation  of 
that  culmination  of  Lincoln's  hopes  and  purposes.  I  have 
no  use  for  the  man  who  cannot  see  in  history  that  Lincoln 
stood  for  things  he  said  he  believed.  As  is  the  case  with  any 
great  man,  if  we  acknowledge  him  to  be  great,  we  must  be 
lieve  him  to  be  sincere,  and  Lincoln  has  said  in  substance,  he 
has  said  in  his  words,  in  his  deeds,  that  he  meant  that  all  men 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  101 

should  be  equally  free,  with  equal  privileges  and  equal  op 
portunities  before  the  law. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  the  people.  He  stood  for 
Americanism.  He  was,  as  has  been  said,  "tKe  'first'  Ameri 
can,"  because  he  was  a  product  of  all  the  forces  that  had 
gone  to  make  America,  and  in  him  were  all  the  elements  which 
make  America  great  and  differentiate  it  from  the  older  civ 
ilizations  and  the  old  world.  He  was  the  friend  of  all  men. 
In  Lincoln  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  us  all  find  expression, 
and  I  pray  that  he  may  be  followed  in  these  latter  days  as  an 
example,  for  political  action,  for  the  highest  and  best  citizen 
ship,  for  the  type  of  manhood  that  makes  for  progress  in  the 
democracy  of  the  world. 

I  would  like  to  take  occasion  here  to  say  that  the  city  of 
Chicago  is  proud,  I  am  sure,  of  this  great  mass  meeting  here 
to-night.  The  general  Committee  has  found  the  officers  of  the 
Eighth  Infantry  and  of  your  Committee  ever  ready  to  co 
operate  with  it  and  an  admirable  desire  on  their  part  to  for 
ward  the  purposes  of  the  centenary  which  has  inspired  us  to 
give  much  time  to  it,  and  to  go  forward  with  an  enthusiasm 
to  which  the  prospect  of  such  a  celebration  as  you  have  here 
to-night  in  no  small  degree  contributed. 

On  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  it  gives  me 
great  pleasure  to-night  to  present  to  the  Eighth  Regiment, 
to  place  upon  the  walls  of  its  regimental  armory,  a  bronze 
tablet  containing  the  Gettysburg  Address  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  that  lofty  statement  of  patriotism  which  has  never  been 
excelled.  I  trust  that  it  may  be  an  inspiration  to  the  men  of 
that  regiment,  as  it  was  to  the  men  of  the  regiments  of  Lin 
coln's  time,  and  has  been  to  all  American  citizens  who  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  read  its  lines  and  observe  its  lessons. 

I  deem  it  a  high  honor  to  be  here  as  a  representative  of  my 
city  upon  this  memorable  Centenary,  which  will  long  live  in 
the  annals  of  our  metropolis,  and  to  speak  here  on  behalf  of 
that  city  in  commemoration  of  the  man  who  has  stood,  as  no 
other  man  has  ever  stood,  for  Americanism  and  everything  it 
represents  to  all  of  us  who  strive  to  make  justice  and  equity 
between  men  the  guiding  principle  of  our  laws  and  their  en 
forcement. 


THE  NfiG&O'S  PLACE  IN  NATIONAL  LIFE* 

HON.  [WILLIAM  J.  CALHOUN 

I  DID  not  know  until  a  few  days  ago  that  I  was  expected 
to  speak  at  this  meeting,  and  I  have  not  had  time  to  give 
much  thought  to  what  I  shall  say  to  you.  Indeed,  I  am 
very  much  in  the  same  frame  of  mind  as  was  the  colored 
minister  of  whom  I  once  heard.  He  belonged  to  a  ministerial 
association,  where  ministers  were  wont  to  come  together  to 
discuss  questions  affecting  the  church  and  their  professional 
work.  One  afternoon  they  had  up  for  discussion  the  sub 
ject  of  the  preparation  of  sermons.  One  of  the  brethren 
said  he  always  selected  his  text  on  Monday  morning  for  the 
following  Sunday's  sermon.  He  thought  of  it  all  through 
the  week;  subdivided  it  into  its  various  heads;  and  filled 
in  the  skeleton  or  outline  thus  made,  by  reflections  from  day 
to  day  throughout  the  week;  so  that  when  Sunday  came,  he 
had  his  sermon  complete  in  his  mind.  The  colored  brother 
said  he  did  not  like  this  plan;  that  it  was  not  the  way  in 
which  he  prepared  his  sermons.  He  did  not  like  the  proposed 
plan  for  the  reason  that  it  is  well  known  that  the  Devil  is 
always  loose  in  the  land,  sometimes  roaring  like  a  lion,  some 
times  bleating  like  a  lamb;  that  he  is  very  smart;  that  he 
knows  everything  going  on;  and  he  would  know  the  text 
selected  so  far  in  advance,  and  would  be  fully  informed 
as  to  what  the  sermon  was  to  be.  He  would  then  go  to 
work  on  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  congregation, 
and  get  them  in  a  mental  condition  which  would  prompt 
them  to  resist  the  influence  of  the  sermon;  so  that  when 
it  was  delivered,  it  would  do  no  good  whatever.  So,  he  said, 
his  way  was,  when  he  went  into  the  pulpit,  to  open  the 

*  An  address   delivered  before  the  meeting  of  the  Eighth   Infantry 
(Colored),  and  the  Colored  Citizens'  Committee.  ' 

102 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  108 

Bible  and  take  for  his  text  the  first  verse  his  eye  fell  upon ; 
and  then  neither  the  Devil,  himself,  nor  anyone  else  would 
know  what  he  was  going  to  say. 

Speaking  of  preachers,  it  reminds  me  of  another  story  I 
heard  of  an  old  Scotch  Presbyterian  minister,  who  was  very 
fond  of  theological  or  dogmatic  discussions.  He  prided  him 
self  on  his  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures.  He  never  had 
to  open  the  Bible  to  quote  a  verse  or  cite  a  passage ;  but,  like 
everyone  else,  he  sometimes  made  mistakes,  only  he  was  never 
willing  to  admit  it.  He  had  in  his  congregation  a  very 
critical  deacon  by  the  name  of  Sandy  McPherson,  who  was 
also  fond  of  dogma;  he  always  listened  closely  to  the  minis 
ter's  sermon,  to  see  if  he  could  find  any  slip  or  misstate- 
ment  of  doctrine;  if  he  did  he  was  very  quick  to  express 
his  dissent,  and  to  argue  the  question  with  the  minister. 
He  sometimes  spoke  right  out  in  meeting,  and  expressed  his 
objections.  One  Sunday  the  minister  went  into  the  pulpit 
and  said,  "My  brethren,  I  will  take  for  my  text  this  morning 
the  miracle  of  our  Saviour  wherein  he  fed  five  men  on  five 
thousand  loaves  and  fishes. ' '  And  Sandy  McPherson  said  out 
loud,  "Huh!  I  could  do  that  myself."  The  minister  did  not 
notice  the  mistake  or  the  interruption,  but  went  on  with  his 
sermon.  Afterwards  his  attention  was  called  to  the  mistake 
he  had  made,  but  he  said  nothing.  The  next  Sunday  he  went 
into  the  pulpit  and  said,  "My  brethren,  I  will  preach  this 
morning  on  the  miracle  of  our  Saviour  wherein  he  fed  five 
thousand  men  on  five  loaves  and  fishes";  and  then  looking 
down,  he  said,  "Sandy,  could  you  do  that?"  And  Sandy 
promptly  replied,  "Aye,  I  cud."  "Well,  how  cud  you?" 
said  the  minister,  and  Sandy  said,  "I  would  feed  them  with 
what  was  left  over  from  last  Sunday." 

Speaking  seriously,  I  wish  I  could  utter  the  thoughts  that 
are  struggling  in  my  mind  for  expression.  I  would  bring 
a  message  to  you,  one  that  would  help  and  comfort  you. 
In  the  celebration  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  birth,  we  naturally 
think  of  you.  No  such  celebration  would  be  complete  unless 
you  had  a  part  in  it.  The  shadow  of  the  great  tragedy  in 
which  he  died  hangs  over  you. 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  Civil  War  was  a  contest  in  which  life  and  blood  and 
treasure  were  spent  without  stint.  Men — strong  men — were 
fighting  and  dying,  and  women  were  weeping  everywhere. 
It  was  a  terrible  struggle.  And  your  race  was  the  cause, 
the  helpless  and  innocent  cause,  of  it  all.  For  men  may 
talk  about  the  Constitution,  the  relation  of  the  States  to  the 
federal  government,  and  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  secession 
or  coercion — the  fact  remains,  that  you,  the  negro,  were  the 
innocent  cause  of  the  whole  trouble. 

I  know  of  no  race  which  has  had  so  much  to  contend  with, 
so  many  obstacles  to  overcome,  so  many  limitations  to  endure, 
as  your  race  has  had.  In  the  first  place,  your  ancestors  were 
hunted  down  in  the  forests  of  Africa,  bound  hand  and  foot, 
thrown  into  the  foul  and  sweltering  hold  of  the  slave  ship, 
brought  to  America,  and  there  sold  into  slavery  Tike  beasts  of 
burden.  Your  people  toiled  for  long  years  in  the  develop 
ment  of  a  country,  in  the  blessings  of  which  they  had  no 
share.  When  the  moral  sense  of  the  country  was  aroused, 
and  the  agitation  against  slavery  arose,  the  War  was  inev 
itable,  it  had  to  be.  God's  balances  of  right  and  wrong  for 
ever  hang  across  the  skies.  In  those  balances  our  country 
was  weighed  and  found  wanting.  It  was  written  that  every 
groan  from  the  breast  of  a  slave  should  find  an  echoing 
response  in  the  groans  of  a  nation 's  misery ;  that  every  drop 
of  blood  that  trickled  from  the  back  of  a  slave,  under  the 
lash,  was  to  be  weighed  against  the  richest  and  most  precious 
blood  of  the  nation;  that  every  cry  of  the  slave  mother, 
mourning  for  her  lost  child,  should  be  answered  back  by 
the  cry  of  other  mothers,  mourning  for  their  children  dead 
upon  the  field  of  battle;  and  that  every  dollar  made  in  the 
slave  traffic  should  be  lost  in  the  devastation  of  a  great  war. 
Such  was  the  penalty  that  this  nation  paid  for  the  wrong 
done  your  race. 

But  now  that  slavery  is  gone,  that  the  shackles  have  been 
removed  from  your  limbs,  and  you  are  free,  what  have  you 
done  with  your  liberty,  for  yourselves,  for  your  children,  and 
for  your  country?  It  is  true,  you  are  circumscribed  in  your 
efforts  by  social  limitations,  by  racial  prejudices  and  by  tra- 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  105 

ditions  of  the  past.  But  the  question  remains,  How  have 
you  used  the  liberty  you  have?  Have  you  made  the  best  of 
the  opportunities  given  you,  limited  as  they  are?  These 
questions  everyone  of  you  should  ask  of  himself;  they  can 
only  be  answered  by  the  voice  of  your  own  conscience.  These 
questions  are  applicable  to  the  white  man  also,  but  there  are 
special  reasons  why  they  should  be  addressed  to  the  colored 
man.  The  conditions  under  which  he  lives  are  peculiar.  He 
is  more  dependent  on  himself;  he  has  to  make  the  greatest 
struggle  to  keep  a  hold  on  life. 

I  know  that  much  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  negro. 
He  has  more  to  contend  with,  more  to  endure,  and  the  longest 
and  hardest  hill  to  climb.  His  ancestors  were  slaves.  They 
never  had  to  care  for  themselves.  Their  clothing  and  shelter 
were  provided  by  their  masters.  They  were  not  trained  to 
depend  on  themselves.  They  were  not  educated  to  assume 
any  responsibility.  And  suddenly,  in  the  convulsions  of  a 
great  war,  they  found  themselves  free,  but  forced  to  care  for 
themselves.  They  were  like  children,  turned  loose  in  a  desert, 
they  did  not  know  what  to  do  or  where  to  go. 

They  made,  I  think,  one  serious  mistake.  Too  many  of 
them  drifted  into  the  cities.  They  gathered  there  in  large 
numbers.  Untrained  and  inexperienced,  they  were  exposed 
to  the  corrupting  influence  of  poverty  and  all  of  its  attendant 
vices.  I  think  it  would  have  been  better  had  they  remained 
in  the  country.  The  country,  with  its  green  fields  and  for 
ests,  its  babbling  brooks,  its  warm  sunshine  and  pure  air,  is 
the  best  place  for  any  man,  white  or  black,  but  especially 
for  the  black  man.  The  city  is  attractive.  It  allures  men 
of  all  races  from  the  farm  or  the  village.  But  the  struggle 
for  existence  is  harder  in  the  city ;  the  temptations  are  greater, 
and  vice  is  more  seductive  and  destructive.  It  is  a  serious 
question  for  your  race  to  consider  whether  you  shall  adopt 
the  virtues  of  the  white  man,  making  them  a  part  of  your  life, 
or  whether  you  will  yield  to  the  white  man 's  vices  which  poison 
the  blood,  vitiate  character,  and  which,  in  the  end,  will  not  only 
destroy  individuals  but  will  impair  the  moral  force  of  the 
entire  race.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the  future 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  any  race  depends  upon  the  life  and  character  of  its  indi 
vidual  members.  You  have  much  to  contend  with,  and  it 
may  be  natural  for  you  to  go  in  the  direction  in  which  you 
find  the  least  resistance.  But  the  greater  the  obstacles  to 
one's  advancement,  the  greater  is  the  effort  to  be  made  to 
overcome  them.  Despite  what  your  enemies  say,  it  is  un 
doubtedly  true  that  the  negro  has  in  his  nature,  elements  of 
character  upon  which  to  build  a  higher  and  better  life.  This 
was  displayed  by  him  in  the  Civil  War.  It  was  the  liberty 
of  the  slave  that  was  at  stake  for  which  this  terrible  game 
of  war  was  played.  The  slave  knew  it;  perhaps  in  a  dim 
and  uncertain  way,  but  he  knew  it.  Nevertheless,  throughout 
that  great  struggle  the  master  expressed  the  greatest  con 
fidence  in  the  slave.  The  master  went  to  the  War,  and  the 
slave  remained  at  home  and  took  care  of  his  master's  family 
and  property.  Herein  was  an  expression  of  trust  which, 
judged  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  human  nature,  was  really 
wonderful. 

Sometimes  the  slave  followed  the  master  to  the  battlefield, 
waited  on  him,  and  took  care  of  him.  Oftentimes,  when 
the  master  was  killed  or  wounded,  it  was  the  slave  who 
crawled  amid  the  dead  and  dying,  amid  the  storm  of  shot 
and  shell,  until  he  found  the  stricken  body  and  carried  it 
away  in  his  arms.  No  race,  under  the  most  trying  circum 
stances,  ever  manifested  greater  kindness  of  heart  and  faith 
fulness,  than  was  shown  by  the  slave  in  the  Civil  War. 

A  Southern  gentleman,  an  ex-Confederate  soldier,  told  me 
not  long  ago  of  an  incident  in  his  own  family  history.  When 
the  Union  army  advanced  into  the  neighborhood  where  a  rela 
tive  lived,  the  latter  fled  further  south.  He  had  a  quantity  of 
gold  coin,  too  heavy  to  carry,  and  he  had  no  safe  place  wherein 
to  deposit  it.  He  called  one  of  his  slaves  to  him,  gave  him 
the  gold,  told  him  to  bury  it,  and  to  guard  it  until  the  mas 
ter's  return.  The  amount  was  large — some  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  The  slave  took  the  money  and  buried  it  in  a  secret 
place.  The  Union  army  came  in.  The  slave  was  free  to 
go  where  he  pleased.  He  could  have  taken  the  money  and 
fled.  But  he  remained  true  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  107 

He  recognized  it  as  a  trust ;  it  appealed  to  his  sense  of  honor 
and  duty ;  he  would  not  prove  false.  He  remained  there  and 
looked  after  his  master's  family.  When  the  War  was  over 
the  master  returned.  He  called  upon  the  slave  for  the  money. 
The  latter  responded  by  taking  a  shovel  and  guiding  the  master 
to  a  remote  place  in  a  forest,  where  the  money  was  found  and 
delivered.  I  tell  you,  a  race  which  breeds  men  of  such  fidelity 
to  a  trust  and  of  such  honesty  of  character  as  this  black  man 
showed,  has  those  qualities  out  of  which  good  and  useful 
citizenship  can  be  made. 

It  is  because  of  the  limitations  put  upon  you,  because  of 
the  hostility  and  prejudice  with  which  you  have  to  contend, 
that  I  call  attention  to  the  possibilities  you  have  for  good 
citizenship  and  for  a  growing  influence  in  the  life  of  the 
world.  And  for  your  sake,  for  your  children's  sake,  and  for 
the  future  of  your  race,  I  admonish  you  to  hold  to  those 
influences  which  make  men  honest,  industrious,  faithful  to 
duty,  and  which  make  character.  In  this  way,  you  will  make 
yourselves  respected  by  even  those  who  oppose  you. 

Let  me  say  further,  every  vicious,  evil-minded  negro  is  an 
enemy  to  your  race.  Men  who  go  wrong,  who  gamble,  drink, 
and  commit  theft,  who  commit  those  grosser  crimes  which 
excite  mobs,  are  your  enemies.  They  do  you  infinite  harm, 
because  the  blame  is  imposed  upon  the  race.  You  above  all 
others  ought  to  stand  for  law  and  order,  for  the  honor  of 
your  people;  and  you  ought  not  to  encourage,  protect  or 
shield  these  men  who  injure  society  and  bring  discredit  upon 
your  race. 

Do  not  be  misled  by  politics  or  by  the  art  of  the  politician. 
I  sometimes  think  a  mistake  was  made  right  after  the  War 
in  giving  the  ballot  to  the  negro  too  soon.  He  was  not  ready 
for  it.  He  had  been  kept  in  subjection,  in  ignorance  and  pov 
erty  for  so  long  a  time,  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  use 
the  liberty  that  came  to  him  so  suddenly.  He  did  not  under 
stand  the  use  of  the  ballot  or  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 
He  became  the  unwilling  tool  of  an  unscrupulous  class  of 
politicians  called  "carpet  baggers,"  who  used  him  for  their 
own  selfish  purposes.  The  result  was  a  bitter  racial  war, 


108  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  has  retarded  the  advancement  of  the  negro  in  the 
South,  and  has  resulted  in  depriving  him  of  the  ballot. 

In  this  State  you  have  the  right  to  vote,  but  I  put  the 
question  to  you,  How  do  you  use  the  right?  Do  you  always 
use  it  for  the  best  interest  of  society  and  for  the  elevation 
of  the  standard  of  citizenship?  Or  do  you  throw  the  ballot 
away,  or  use  it  indifferently,  or  use  it  so  as  to  degrade  it  and 
injure  society  and  weaken  the  moral  force  of  your  own  peo 
ple  ?  Do  you  realize  what  the  ballot  has  cost,  how  many  lives 
have  been  sacrificed,  how  much  blood  and  tears  have  been 
shed,  on  the  battlefield  and  on  the  scaffold,  through  long  years 
of  strife  and  struggle,  in  order  that  men  might  have  the 
privilege  of  the  ballot?  It  requires  little  imagination  to 
enable  one  to  see  that  the  ballot  is  red  with  blood  and  wet 
with  tears,  which  were  shed  that  you  and  I  might  have  it. 
Shall  we  sell  it  for  a  dollar,  for  a  drink  of  beer?  Shall  we 
give  it  away,  or  shall  we  consider  it  a  priceless  heritage,  and 
use  it  only  for  the  advancement  of  society,  and  for  the  infu 
sion  of  the  spirit  of  righteousness  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
both  white  and  black  ? 

Do  not  trouble  yourselves  too  much  about  politics.  Don't 
be  discouraged  if  you  are  not  allowed  to  hold  office.  Do 
not  be  discouraged  if  you  are  oftentimes  made  the  victims 
of  racial  hatred  and  jealousy.  Do  not  grow  faint  hearted. 
There  are  many  other  ways  in  which  you  can  work  for  the 
upbuilding  of  your  race.  I  do  not  know  what  you  think  of 
Booker  T.  Washington;  but,  if  you  have  read  his  story 
"Up  from  Slavery,"  you  have  read  a  story  more  thrilling 
than  anything  in  fiction.  When  the  War  was  going  on  he 
was  a  little  "pickaninny,"  living  in  a  cabin  without  floors  or 
windows,  in  Virginia.  When  the  War  closed,  he,  with  others, 
was  cast  adrift  to  make  his  own  way.  He  was  without 
friends,  influence  or  education.  He  belonged  to  a  race  much 
hated  in  the  part  of  the  country  in  which  he  lived.  But  he 
was  not  discouraged.  He  worked  wherever  he  found  work  to 
do.  He  worked  in  coal  mines,  as  a  house  servant,  and  in  the 
fields.  He  was  industrious,  sober,  and  faithful.  Then  the 
longing  came  to  him  for  an  education.  He  started  for  the 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  109 

Hampton  Institute.  He  walked  all  the  way,  over  mountains 
and  plains,  by  day  and  by  night.  He  worked  for  food;  he 
slept  in  the  fields,  in  barns,  and  under  railroad  platforms. 
He  finally  arrived  at  Hampton.  He  worked  his  way  through 
college,  and  then  went  out  into  the  heart  of  the  South  and 
commenced  his  great  work  of  education.  He  is  to-day  not 
only  a  great  teacher,  but  one  of  the  greatest  orators  in  the 
United  States,  barring  none.  His  life,  his  struggles,  and  his 
triumphs  should  be  an  encouragement  to  all  of  you.  The  de 
votion  to  duty,  the  high  resolve,  the  industry,  which  charac 
terize  his  life,  should  be  considered  as  evidence  of  the  pos 
sibilities  of  your  race. 

Let  honesty,  industry,  and  economy  be  your  watchwords. 
Try  to  get  ahead  in  the  material  things  of  life.  When  you 
can  go  to  a  bank  and  borrow  money  on  your  own  note,  when 
you  own  and  manage  farms,  when  your  word  is  as  good  as 
the  white  man's  bond,  then  you  will  have  achieved  a  place 
in  the  community  in  which  you  live,  which  commands  confi 
dence,  respect,  and  good  treatment.  Life  will  then  be  easier, 
justice  will  be  more  free,  and  the  promise  of  the  future  will 
be  greater. 

The  message  I  bring  to  you  is  to  be  true  to  those  high 
ideals  by  which  the  white  man  has  been  brought  from  bar 
barism  to  civilization.  I  know  there  is  a  large  class  of  white 
men  who  do  not  live  up  to  this  standard.  But  they  are  in 
the  minority.  The  hearts  of  the  majority  of  this  great  people 
are  true  to  high  convictions  of  duty.  You  can  advance  in 
the  same  line  of  progress  by  devotion  to  the  same  ideals. 
The  hope  of  your  race,  as  I  see  it,  is  in  industry,  economy, 
and  honesty. 

To-day  we  celebrate  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Keep 
his  memory  sacred  in  your  hearts.  Devote  yourselves  to  the 
study  of  the  principles  which  controlled  his  life.  Remember 
his  great  career.  He  was  born  in  a  log  cabin,  reared  in 
poverty,  and  dedicated  to  toil.  He  spent  his  early  years 
toiling  in  the  forest,  in  the  fields,  on  the  flat-boat,  in  the 
country  store,  and  finally  he  became  a  great  political  leader. 
By  birth  and  ancestry  he  belonged  to  the  poorer  classes 


110  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  South.  But  he  raised  himself  from  the  lowest  level 
to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame.  Though  long  since  dead, 
men  still  speak  of  him  as  one  of  deathless  memory.  His  life, 
his  struggles,  and  triumphs,  serve  as  a  lesson  to  us  all. 

I  may  have  said  some  things  you  do  not  like.  But,  remem 
ber,  I  speak  from  the  heart,  with  an  interest  in  your  race, 
with  a  hope  for  its  future,  and  with  a  desire  to  see  you  have 
better  opportunities  for  self-development. 

You  are  part  of  this  nation ;  you  cannot  be  ignored  in  the 
consideration  of  its  future.  But  your  place  in  the  national 
life  is  more  or  less  in  dispute.  It  presents  what  is  called 
a  "problem";  it  involves  your  political,  economic,  and  social 
rights,  your  duties  and  responsibilities.  It  is  a  problem 
which  will  take  time  to  solve.  I  want  to  see  it  solved  on 
right  lines,  in  a  spirit  of  justice,  and  in  the  interest  of  both 
races.  The  responsibility  rests  in  part  upon  you.  Will  you 
help  to  solve  the  problem?  You  can  only  do  it  by  bringing 
your  race  up  to  the  high  standards  of  citizenship.  Will  you 
prove  to  the  white  race  that  you  have  virtues  which  make 
you  worthy  of  trust  and  confidence  ?  Let  us  all  help  to  bring 
to  the  solution  of  this  and  all  other  problems  the  highest 
measure  of  good  sense,  and  let  us  cultivate  a  high  resolve  to 
do  our  duty  as  God  gives  us  light  to  see  it.  Such  is  the  mes 
sage  I  brijig  you.  Such  is  the  hope  I  have  for  you. 


THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  THE  QUESTION 
(A  reply  to  the  Speech  of  Hon.  W.  J.  Calhoun) 

REV.    A.    J.    CAREY 

I  COULD  not  help  feeling  as  I  listened  to  the  burning 
words  of  eloquence  as  they  fell  from  the  lips  of  Judge 
Calhoun,  that  if  all  the  negroes  in  the  Civil  War  had  been 
as  the  one,  described  by  the  Judge,  who  made  his  way  to  his 
wounded  master  and  brought  him  back  to  home  and  slavery, 
we  would  have  been  unworthy  a  part  in  the  celebration  of 
this  splendid  week.  But  when  I  looked  on  my  right,  as  I 
sat  here  to-night,  and  saw  those  old  veterans,  who  were  a  part 
and  parcel  of  that  two  hundred  thousand  black  men  who 
answered  to  the  call  of  Father  Abraham,  I  felt  in  my 
heart  of  hearts  we  have  just  right  to  be  here.  Ah,  my 
friends,  I  want  our  good  Judge  to  see  the  other  side  of  the 
question.  When  thirteen  stars  from  yonder  flag  were  falling 
into  the  dust  of  secession  two  hundred  thousand  negro  sol 
diers  caught  them  on  the  points  of  bristling  bayonets,  pinned 
them  back  in  the  folds  of  Old  Glory,  sealed  them  with  their 
blood,  singing  meanwhile, — 

"John  Brown's  body  lies  a-mouldering  in  the  grave, 
But  his  soul  goes  marching  on." 

And  when  the  good  Judge  speaks  of  the  ballot — Ah,  Judge, 
had  you  lived  where  I  lived,  had  you  lived  in  that  Southland 
yonder  where  I  was  born  and  reared,  had  you  seen  a  helpless 
people  treated  as  my  people  were,  thrown  into  the  conflict 
with  no  weapon  of  defence,  you  would  have  said,  "  Though 
the  Fifteenth  Amendment  seem  a  mistake,  give  it  a  trial  and 
let  the  negro  have  the  ballot.  It  is  his  only  weapon  of  de 
fence,  his  only  means  of  protection  against  injustice  and 
oppression. " 

It  may  be  that  some  of  us  have  proven  unworthy.  It  may 

111 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

be  that  some  have  bartered  their  ballot  for  money  or  beer. 
But,  sir,  more  contemptible,  more  blamable  in  the  sight  of 
honest  men  and  in  the  sight  of  God,  than  the  black  man  who 
sells  his  ballot,  is  the  white  man  who  purchases  or  causes  him 
to  sell  it. 

One  word,  and  I  am  done.  When  the  good  'Judge  speaks 
of  black  men  owning  property  and  being  able  to  give  their 
negotiable  notes  to  the  bank,  I  rejoice  that  in  the  State  in 
which  I  was  born,  the  old  State  of  Georgia,  negroes  pay  taxes 
to-day  on  twenty-five  million  dollars'  worth  of  real  estate  and 
personal  property.  And  in  that  self-same  State,  some  of  the 
very  homes  in  which  their  former  masters  lived  are  now  owned 
by  those  black  ex-slaves,  many  of  whom  have  given  their 
former  masters  bread,  since  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
set  them  free. 

What  is  true  in  Georgia,  is  true  in  Alabama,  true  in  Ten 
nessee,  true  in  Texas,  proportionately  true  in  every  State  of 
the  South,  and  under  God  we  are  beginning  to  make  it  true 
even  in  grand  old  Illinois,  for  here  our  people  have  begun 
the  purchasing  of  many  homes.  Yes,  Judge,  in  all  that  makes 
for  righteousness,  in  all  that  makes  for  that  which  is  best  for 
the  American  people,  these  black  men  and  these  black  women 
have  consecrated  themselves  heart  and  soul  to  God  and  his 
truth,  and  to  their  task.  We  will  help  you  make  this  nation 
the  mightiest  nation  on  the  globe,  or  we  will  report  to  God 
the  reason  why. 


THE  CATHEDRAL  UTTERANCE  OF  LINCOLN 

DR.    CHARLES   J.   LITTLE 

ON  the  twentieth  of  March,  1811,  two  years  after  the  birth 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  an  enormous  crowd  gathered  be 
fore  the  Palace  of  the  Tuileries  in  Paris  at  the  booming  of 
the  cannon  that  announced  the  birth  of  an  expected  prince. 
As  volley  succeeded  volley  the  suspense  became  unbearable, 
until  the  twenty-second  report  shook  earth  and  sky,  when  this 
assurance  that  the  child  born  to  Napoleon  was  the  wished-for 
son,  evoked  from  the  impatient  multitude  shouts  and  screams 
of  wild  delight.  The  imperial  babe  was  proclaimed  immedi 
ately  the  King  of  Rome,  decorated  with  the  grand  Eagle  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  with  the  great  Cross  of  the  Iron  Crown, 
and  with  the  Golden  Fleece.  The  guns  that  told  of  his  birth 
were  repeated  northward  to  the  Russian  frontier  and  south 
ward  to  the  straits  of  Gibraltar.  Poets  broke  into  obsequious 
songs;  churches  resounded  with  chants  of  praise;  Paris 
brought  to  the  child  a  magnificent  silvered  vessel,  the  emblem 
of  the  city ;  the  Senate  and  Council  of  State  hailed  in  ecstatic 
strains  "this  new  star  which,"  they  exclaimed,  "had  risen  on 
the  horizon  of  France,  and  whose  first  gleams  dispersed  the 
smallest  shadows  remaining  of  the  darkness  of  the  future/' 
One  year  later  a  portrait  of  this  baby  King  of  Rome,  playing 
in  his  cradle  with  the  sceptre  of  the  Empire  and  the  globe  of 
the  world,  was  shown  by  Napoleon  to  his  staff  as  his  army  was 
approaching  Moscow.  "But  the  hitherto  un vanquished  con 
queror  could  not  pluck  to-morrow  from  the  hands  of  the 
Eternal."  Few  and  evil  were  the  days  appointed  to  the  lad. 
When  four  years  old  a  fugitive  with  his  frightened  mother 
and  his  treacherous  uncle ;  afterward  a  prisoner  in  the  palace 
of  his  imperial  grandfather;  an  uneducated  or  miseducated 
8  113 


114  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

youth  dying  at  twenty-one,  his  last  entreaty,  the  bitter  excla 
mation,  "Let  me  die  in  peace!" — finally  a  splendid  funeral 
in  Vienna,  a  tomb  in  the  great  cathedral,  and  a  twilight  song 
chanted  by  Victor  Hugo  to  his  memory.  This  completes  the 
melancholy  annals  of  the  King  of  Rome,  descendant  of  the 
Hapsburgs  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

How  strange  but  how  instructive  the  story  of  this  imperial 
eaglet  when  contrasted  with  the  childhood  and  the  career  of 
Abraham  Lincoln !  No  sound  save  the  moaning  of  his  mother 
greeted  his  coming  to  a  rude  Kentucky  cabin.  No  poet  sang 
his  praises;  no  legislators  prophesied  his  future  splendor;  no 
artist  cared  to  limn  his  homely  features;  no  famous  father 
showed  him  to  his  comrades  as  the  coming  ruler  of  millions 
and  the  idol  of  posterity.  But  while  the  foredoomed  offspring 
of  Napoleon  was  watching  the  fountains  in  the  gardens  of 
his  palace  prison,  the  son  of  Nancy  Lincoln  was  following  his 
mother  to  her  lonely  grave  in  a  wild  region,  among  bears  and 
untamed  creatures.  No  private  tutors  shaped  or  spoiled  his 
mind.  No  college  made  or  marred  his  character.  ' '  Somehow 
he  learned  to  read  and  cipher " — that  was  all,  "save  what  he 
picked  up  in  after  life  under, "  as  he  termed  it  modestly,  "the 
pressure  of  necessity."  For  this  ungainly,  dark-skinned, 
melancholy  lad  felt  quite  early  the  urging  of  a  mightier  force, 
a  force  compounded  of  intelligence  and  ambition,  of  the  ability 
to  think  and  the  longing  to  achieve. 

America  is  opportunity  indeed,  but  not  for  everybody. 
Many  children  were  born  in  Kentucky  in  1809,  but  only  one 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Many  settlers  found  their  way  to  Indiana 
when  the  Territory  became  a  State,  but  not  many  future 
statesmen;  many  clerks  handled  the  goods  and  chatted  with 
the  customers  in  the  country  stores  of  Illinois,  but  very  few 
among  them  rose  to  eminence. 

Lincoln,  the  farm  boy,  the  store  clerk,  the  surveyor,  became 
Lincoln  the  lawyer  and  Lincoln  the  statesman,  not  because 
of  his  environment  and  its  difficulties,  but  because  he  saw  and 
seized  his  opportunities.  Defects  he  had  indeed;  defects  of 
character  and  defects  contracted  from  vulgar  and  mean  sur 
roundings  ;  but  he  had  great  powers,  together  with  a  capacity 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  115 

for  self-development  and  self-conquest,  which  is  the  secret  of 
all  enduring  greatness. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  always  nobler  than  his  surroundings 
and  wiser  than  his  companions;  but  there  has  been  in  many 
places,  and  not  seldom  here  in  this  great  state  to  which  his 
name  and  that  of  Grant  have  given  imperishable  lustre,  a 
somewhat  grudging  recognition  of  his  nobility  and  wisdom. 
His  image  has  been  obscured  by  the  breath  of  men  who  thought 
that  he  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  themselves,  and  who 
fastened  upon  the  defects  of  his  massive  nature  as  though 
they  were  the  substance  of  his  being;  men  who  were  fain  to 
magnify  their  own  pettiness  by  creeping  into  some  crevice  of 
his  character. 

You  will  permit  me,  therefore,  to  recall  a  paragraph  from 
one  of  his  early  speeches,  a  paragraph  that  lives  in  my  mind 
as  the  cathedral  utterance  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  because  I  can 
never  recall  it  without  the  vision  of  some  mighty  structure 
soaring  upwards  like  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  or  the  spires  of 
Cologne's  beautiful  temple  into  that  ampler  ether  where  a 
sublime  human  achievement  is  made  glorious  by  the  greeting 
of  the  radiant  skies. 

Speaking  of  the  slave  power,  he  exclaimed : 

"Broken  by  it,  I,  too,  may  be;  bow  to  it,  I  never  will.  The  prob 
ability  that  we  may  fail  in  the  struggle  ought  not  to  deter  us  from 
the  support  of  a  cause  which  we  deem  to  be  just.  It  shall  not  deter 
me.  If  I  ever  feel  the  soul  within  me  elevate  and  expand  to  those 
dimensions  not  wholly  unworthy  its  Almighty  Architect,  it  is  when  1 
contemplate  the  cause  of  my  country  deserted  by  all  the  world  besides, 
and  I,  standing  up  boldly  and  alone  and  hurling  defiance  at  her  vic 
torious  oppressors.  Here,  without  contemplating  consequence,  before 
high  heaven,  and  in  the  face  of  the  world,  I  swear  eternal  fidelity  to 
the  just  cause,  as  I  deem  it,,  of  the  land  of  my  life,  my  liberty,  and 
my  love." 

Here  is  the  key  to  the  peculiar  character  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  His  soul  was  capable  of  infinite  expansion ;  and  under 
the  inspiration  of  great  opportunity  and  tremendous  respon 
sibility  his  soul  did  expand  to  dimensions  not  wholly  unworthy 
of  its  Almighty  Architect;  but  it  was  a  soul  whose  final  maj 
esty,  whose  ultimate  harmonious  proportions  were  never  quite 


116  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

comprehended  by  men  who  boasted  that  they,  too,  were  hewn 
from  the  same  rough  quarry  and  who  flattered  themselves  that 
they,  too,  might  have  expanded  to  the  same  grandeur. 

Yet,  even  these  could  not  hide  the  fact  that  Lincoln  had  been 
always  a  being  apart — friendly,  sociable,  kindly,  helpful ;  but 
singularly,  although  not  offensively,  unlike  his  neighbors.  The 
strength  of  a  giant  was  the  servant  of  ''a  heart  as  big  as  his 
arms  were  long."  Like  Garibaldi,  the  hero  of  United  Italy, 
he  could  not  bear  the  sight  or  sound  of  needless  suffering. 
Bigger  and  stronger  than  any  of  his  companions,  he  was  the 
gentlest  of  them  all.  But  the  quality  of  his  mind  was  wholly 
different  from  theirs;  indeed  it  was  of  a  quality  exceedingly 
rare  in  the  whole  world.  Lincoln  had  marvellous  mental  eye 
sight.  He  looked  not  so  much  at  things  as  into  them.  His 
vision  was  not  only  accurate,  but  penetrating.  It  was  a  vision 
unblurred  by  his  own  hasty  fancies  or  his  own  wishes ;  and  a 
vision  undimmed  by  prevalent  misstatements  or  current  mis 
conceptions;  a  vision  never  long  perturbed  by  the  sophistries 
of  men  skilled  to  make  "the  worse  appear  the  better  reason." 

Referring  once  to  the  declaration  of  Galileo  that  a  ball 
dropped  and  a  ball  shot  from  the  mouth  of  a  cannon  would 
strike  the  ground  at  the  same  instant,  Lincoln  said  that 
long  before  he  knew  the  reasons  for  it,  it  seemed  to  him  that 
it  must  be  so.  Like  Galileo,  he  saw  the  thing  before  and  not 
merely  after  it  was  proved.  He  saw  that  the  downward  pull 
on  both  balls  must  be  the  same,  and  that  the  outward  drive 
of  the  one  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  time  of  its 
fall.  We  may  indeed  wonder  what  might  have  been  his  career, 
if,  like  Michael  Faraday,  he  had  first  read  books  of  science 
instead  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Illinois  or  the  Commentaries 
of  Blackstone  that  he  found  in  a  pile  of  rubbish.  Fate  de 
creed,  however,  that  this  rare  quality  of  penetrative  vision 
should  be  applied  to  law  and  to  statecraft — especially  to  the 
problems  then  challenging  the  thought  of  the  American  people. 
This  vision,  moreover,  was  not  only  penetrative;  it  was  pro 
phetic.  He  could  foresee  consequences  as  distinctly  as  he 
could  discern  realities.  It  was  not  pure  guessing,  when  he 
exclaimed, ' t  This  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 


/2xL^?          A 


/        ^9 


Facsimile   of   Manuscript  Tribute   from   Dr.  Charles  J.  Little, 
President   of   Garrett   Biblical    Institute,  Chicago 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  117 

free  and  half  slave. "  It  was  a  prediction  derived  from  steady 
and  consecutive  vision.  For  genuine  logic,  like  the  logic  of 
Euclid  which  fascinated  him,  is,  after  all,  a  continuous  seeing. 
Given  the  elements  of  a  situation,  the  mind  watches  them  as 
consequence  follows  consequence  in  sure  and  certain  revelation. 
Never  to  befool  oneself  about  an  actual  situation  and  never 
to  befool  oneself  in  reasoning  upon  it — these  are  the  bases  of 
science,  physical  and  political.  And  science  is  the  modern 
almanac,  the  handbook  of  prediction.  When  men  like  Doug 
las  were  attempting  to  manipulate  and  thwart  the  laws  of 
God  which  determine  national  destiny,  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
humbly  studying  them  in  the  spirit  of  Galileo  and  of  Francis 
Bacon. 

Daniel  Webster  once  declared  that  it  is  wholly  unnecessary 
to  re-enact  the  laws  of  God.  The  saying,  strictly  construed, 
is  true  enough,  but  the  implications  of  it,  as  Lincoln  saw, 
are  utterly  false.  We  need  not,  indeed,  re-enact  the  laws  of 
God,  but  our  statutes,  if  they  shall  work  benefit  and  not 
disaster,  must  recognize  and  conform  to  them.  The  laws  of 
God,  left  to  themselves,  leave  us  in  impotence,  and  exposed  to 
hunger,  disease  and  disaster.  All  our  mastery  of  the  physical 
world  depends  upon  our  actively  using,  not  upon  our  pas 
sively  submitting  to,  the  laws  of  the  material  universe.  In 
this  sense  every  flying  locomotive  is  a  re-enactment  of  the  laws 
of  God;  so  is  every  telescope  that  opens  to  mortal  vision  the 
plendors  of  immensity,  and  every  microscope  with  which  we 
track  to  their  hiding  places  the  mysteries  of  life  and  death. 
So  is  every  temple  that  we  rear,  every  bridge  that  we  build, 
every  steamship  that  we  construct,  every  mill  that  we  erect, 
and  every  machine  into  which  we  conduct  the  energy  of  steam 
or  electricity.  The  whole  progress  of  civilized  man  may  be 
measured  by  the  extent  to  which  he  has  learned  in  his  activi 
ties  to  obey  and  to  employ  the  laws  of  God.  So,  too,  in  the 
political  world,  the  great  structures  that  w.  call  common 
wealths  must,  in  this  sense,  be  re-enactments  of  eternal  prin 
ciples.  If  they  are  to  be  beneficent  and  not  malignant,  those 
who  create  and  control  them  must  learn  the  laws  by  which 
alone  benign  results  can  be  obtained.  Constitutions  can  en- 


118  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

dure  and  statutes  increase  the  welfare  of  the  people  only  as 
they  realize  and  do  not  contravene  the  principles  of  righteous 
ness  and  progress.  Penetrating  to  this  simple  but  tremendous 
truth,  Lincoln  obtained  his  vision  of  the  future ;  his  prophetic 
gaze  swept  the  political  horizon  and  discerned  the  inevitable. 
And  this  foresight  was  both  profound  and  far-reaching.  In 
learned  information  his  horizon  might  be  termed  a  narrow 
one ;  but  in  his  grasp  of  principles  and  of  their  ultimate  and 
universal  consequences  he  was  broader  and  deeper  than  any 
statesman  of  his  age.  The  only  time  I  ever  saw  him  was  at 
the  flag-raising  in  Philadelphia,  on  Washington's  birthday,  in 
1861.  I  could  not  hear  his  voice,  so  great  was  the  intervening 
crowd,  but  the  words  that  I  could  not  hear  I  have  read  and 
pondered  often  since : 

"I  never  have  had  a  feeling  politically,"  said  the  predestined  martyr 
for  whom  assassins  even  then  were  lying  in  wait,  "that  did  not  spring 
from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  .  .  . 
that  sentiment  .  .  .  which  gave  liberty  not  alone  to  the  people  of 
this  country,  but  hope  to  all  the  world,  for  all  future  time.  It  was 
that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the  weights  would  be  lifted 
from  the  shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal  chance. 
Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on  that  basis?  ...  If 
it  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to 
say  I  would  rather  be  assaisinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it." 

If  this  be  narrowness  of  vision,  then  may  God  contract  the 
eyes  of  American  statesmen  to  a  similar  horizon ! 

Such  was  the  mind  of  Abraham  Lincoln — a  mind  that  grav 
itated  gladly  to  the  truth  of  things ;  a  mind  that  loved  light 
and  hated  darkness;  a  mind  that  found  rest  only  in  eternal 
principles,  and  inspiration  in  prophetic  visions  and  exalted 
political  ideals. 

Possibly  under  different  surroundings  he  might  have  be 
come  a  renowned  scientist;  more  probably  his  radiant  and 
steady  intellect,  united  to  his  great  heart  would  have  made 
him  even  under  other  conditions  a  supreme  statesman.  For 
the  scientist  seeks  chiefly  for  causes  and  is  satisfied  to  find 
and  to  show  them;  if  he  concerns  himself  for  beneficent  re 
sults,  as  he  often  does,  these  are  not  his  principal  quest. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  119 

He  searches  for  the  seeds  of  things  and  delights  to  see  them 
grow.  The  statesman,  on  the  other  hand,  seeks  first,  last,  and 
always  the  welfare  of  the  people.  And  Lincoln  loved  the 
people,  craving  their  happiness  and  hating  oppression  even 
when  it  assumed  the  form  of  law.  Monarchs  and  oligarchs 
strive  mainly  to  perpetuate  their  privileges  and  to  increase 
their  power ;  even  in  Republics  there  be  those  who  usurp  free 
institutions  in  order  to  enlarge  their  wealth  and  to  entrench 
their  tyranny.  Lincoln  perceived  too  clearly  and  felt  too 
keenly  the  burdens  of  the  common  man,  ever  to  become  the 
active  or  the  passive  instrument  of  any  power  that  would 
abridge  his  liberties  or  diminish  the  opportunities  of  his  chil 
dren.  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  so  often  mentioned 
in  his  speeches,  he  recognized  as  the  embodiment  of  the  prin 
ciples  that  determine  all  political  progress.  Human  govern 
ments  are  sanctioned  and  favored  by  Almighty  God,  so  long, 
and  so  long  only,  as  they  promote  the  welfare  of  the  people 
and  further  the  progress  of  mankind.  Directly  they  become 
instruments  of  oppression,  or  strongholds  of  tyranny,  they 
provoke  the  judgments  which  are  righteous  altogether,  when 
"the  wealth  piled  up  by  unrequited  toil"  shall  be  sunk  in  the 
divine  wrath  "and  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword.  ' ' 

And  he  recognized  himself,  humbly  and  gladly,  as  a  prod 
uct  of  the  principles  that  he  defended.  Freedom  had  made 
it  possible  for  his  own  soul  to  expand  to  dimensions  not  un 
worthy  of  its  Almighty  Architect.  One  needs  only  to  read 
the  story  of  modern  Italy,  of  her  exiles  and  her  patriots  dying 
in  dungeons  and  upon  the  scaffold,  to  see  how  impossible 
would  have  been  such  a  career  under  the  Italian  skies.  It  is 
enough  to  make  one  weep  tears  of  blood  to  know  the  tremen 
dous  price  that  the  descendants  of  Dante  and  of  Galileo  paid 
for  unity  and  liberty.  And  her  Garibaldi  grew  strong  in  the 
shelter  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  a  poor  lad 
like  Abraham  Lincoln,  even  though  capable  of  penetrative, 
prophetic,  and  profound  vision — a  poor  lad,  awkward  in  body, 
homely  in  features,  and  unaggressive  in  disposition,  with  no 
capital  but  his  strong  arms,  his  big  heart,  and  his  luminous 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

brain — could  expand  to  proportions  worthy  of  his  divine 
Creator  only  in  the  bracing  air  of  freedom  and  social  equality. 
Nay,  he  could  not  have  reached  these  splendid  dimensions 
except  in  a  free  State  of  the  American  Union — not  even  in 
the  Kentucky  of  Henry  Clay,  or  in  the  Virginia  that  had 
ceased  to  think  the  thoughts  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Combined  with  these  rare  qualities  of  mind,  Lincoln  pos 
sessed  a  gift  of  exact  expression  that  bordered  on  the  mar 
velous.  His  fidelity  of  speech  matched  his  fidelity  of  vision. 
He  could  say  what  he  saw  and  make  others  see  what  he  said. 
"Well!  Speed!  I  'm  moved!"  he  exclaimed  with  laconic 
humor  after  carrying  his  saddle-bags  upstairs  to  his  friend's 
room.  "Judge  Douglas  has  the  high  distinction  of  never 
having  said,  either  that  slavery  is  right,  or  that  slavery  is 
wrong;  almost  everybody  else  says  one  or  the  other,  but  the 
Judge  never  does."  Such  was  the  sentence  with  which  he 
transfixed  his  dodging  rival  before  the  astonished  people  of 
Illinois. 

"Has  Douglas  the  exclusive  right  to  be  on  all  sides  of  all 
questions  ? "  he  demanded  with  mock  surprise.  ' '  Until  Judge 
Douglas  gives  a  better  reason  than  he  has  offered  against  the 
evidence  in  this  case,  I  suggest  to  him  it  will  not  avail  at  all 
that  he  swells  himself  up,  takes  on  dignity,  and  calls  people 
liars.  Would  you  prove  a  proposition  in  Euclid  false  by 
calling  Euclid  a  liar?"  This  was  his  grim  reply  to  his  cun 
ning  antagonist  trying  to  convert  a  question  of  logic  into  a 
question  of  veracity. 

To  a  man  exclaiming,  "I  believe  in  God  Almighty  and  in 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  he  gave  the  instant  and  inimitable  re 
joinder,  "You  're  more  than  half  right!"  And  what  could 
surpass  the  laconic  severity  of  his  telegram  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan,  "I  have  just  read  your  despatch  about  sore-tongued 
and  fatigued  horses.  Will  you  pardon  me  for  asking  what  the 
horses  of  your  army  have  done  since  the  battle  of  Antietam, 
that  fatigues  anything?" 

"If  one  man  enslaves  another,  no  third  man  has  the  right 
to  object!"  Into  those  thirteen  words  he  distilled  the  malig 
nant  meaning  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  121 

"The  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy " — 
such  is  the  terse  statement  of  the  First  Inaugural,  followed  by 
a  demonstration  as  lucid  as  the  proposition. 

Galileo  used  to  say  that  God  had  written  the  laws  of  nature 
in  geometrical  characters;  Lincoln  believed  that  political 
principles  could  be  stated  with  geometrical  clearness,  and  he 
confronted  his  adversaries  whenever  great  issues  were  in 
volved,  not  by  denunciation  but  by  illumination.  If  he  could 
not  show  them,  he  could  at  least  show  other  people  just  where 
they  stood  and  just  what  they  meant. 

It  is  to  the  enduring  honor  of  the  people  of  Illinois  that 
they  were  large  enough  to  recognize  the  expanding  dimensions 
of  this  strong  soul;  that  when  this  clear-eyed  defender  of 
liberty  and  union  appeared  among  them  their  sight  was  sharp 
enough  to  see  above  him  the  beckoning  hand  of  Destiny.  How 
long  is  the  tradition  to  endure  that  handsome  presence  and 
sonorous  voice,  swollen  periods,  glittering  platitudes,  reckless 
assertions,  delusive  epigrams,  and  the  sneers  of  the  sophist 
suffice  for  popular  leadership?  They  suffice  only  when  the 
people  are  unworthy  of  great  statesmen,  or  when  inferior  and 
selfish  leaders  are  unopposed  by  clear  thinking,  plain  speaking, 
and  intrepid  action.  They  suffice  never  when  a  soul  expanded 
by  the  inspiration  of  great  principles  grapples  with  a  spirit 
so  swollen  and  heated  with  ambition  that  it  has  grown  indif 
ferent  to  the  dignity  of  its  Almighty  Architect.  Douglas  was 
skilled  in  the  arts  of  plausible  address,  adroit,  audacious, 
evasive,  self-assertive,  denunciatory ;  full  of  the  forms  of  logic, 
yet  not  too  careful  of  the  truth.  How  shrivelled  and  shrunken 
he  appeared  when  illuminated  by  the  ever  expanding  mind  of 
his  conqueror!  Stripped  of  his  pride,  of  his  self-delusions, 
of  the  garments  of  party  leadership  for  which  he  had  surren 
dered  the  cardinal  principles  of  democracy,  how  small  the 
remnant  looked!  His  antagonist's  soul  had  expanded  to  a 
temple  of  light;  his  own  brain  had  dwindled  to  a  tabernacle 
of  bewildering  inconsistencies.  "He  bargained  with  us  and 
then  under  the  stress  of  a  local  election  his  knees  gave  way; 
his  whole  person  trembled. "  Such  was  the  railing  accusation 
in  1860  of  his  accuser  and  fellow  bargainer,  'Judah  P.  Benja- 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

min.  How  the  accusation  degrades  them  both,  even  after 
more  than  forty  years,  "He  bargained  with  us  and  then  be 
trayed  us!" 

But  let  us  who  are  assembled  here,  so  near  the  spot  where 
the  dying  Douglas  gave  his  parting  injunction  to  his  sons, 
"Defend  the  Constitution  and  obey  the  laws,"  remember  to 
be  just.  The  charge  of  Benjamin  drips  with  the  bitterness 
of  disappointment  and  the  hatred  of  a  vanquished  faction. 
There  was  probably  no  bargain  and  no  betrayal,  but  as  often 
happens  in  diplomacy  and  in  political  struggles,  each  faction 
tried  to  beat  the  other  and  both  succeeded.  Let  us  remember, 
too,  the  brief  but  glorious  period  in  which  the  defeated  Doug 
las,  forgetting  the  past  with  patriotic  magnanimity,  rallied 
promptly  and  boldly  to  the  support  of  his  former  rival,  de 
claring  to  the  whole  country  that  there  were  left  two  parties 
only — the  party  for,  and  the  party  against  the  Union — thus, 
like  a  glorious  but  beclouded  sun,  emerging  from  a  darkening 
storm  to  flood  the  horizon  with  the  last  rays  of  his  powerful 
and  loyal  spirit. 

Not  Lincoln's  mind  alone  expanded  to  dimensions  worthy 
of  its  Almighty  Architect,  but  his  whole  being  took  on  majesty 
as  he  assumed  responsibilities  and  set  about  a  task  which  to 
him  seemed  even  greater  than  that  of  Washington.  His  en 
tire  administration  was  a  protracted  magnanimity.  He  was 
great  in  his  forbearance  as  he  was  great  in  his  performance. 
Often  tempted  to  use  his  strength  against  men  who,  like 
Greeley,  assumed  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone;  his  en 
durance  strained  to  the  breaking  point  by  schemers  and  place- 
seekers  and  the  cormorants  that  batten  and  fatten  in  war  times 
upon  the  miseries  of  the  people;  peering  anxiously  into  the 
skies  above  him  for  some  token  of  hope  dropped  from  the 
hand  of  God;  the  Lincoln  that  once  carried  the  village  post- 
office  in  his  hat  bore  the  destinies  of  millions  upon  his  mighty 
heart  and  expanded  to  the  stature  of  the  suffering  saviour  of 
the  nation.  He  mastered  his  Cabinet  with  serene  self-control ; 
he  sustained  with  matchless  generosity  the  successive  com 
manders  of  the  several  armies.  Slow  to  change  but  swift  to 
praise,  with  patient  vigilance  he  studied  the  movements  of 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  123 

the  public  mind,  waiting  for  it  to  become  the  footstool  of  his 
great  purpose  of  emancipation,  while  with  the  diplomatic  skill 
of  an  imperturbable  wisdom,  he  averted  the  perils  of  a  foreign 
war. 

Carl  Schurz,  in  his  ' '  Reminiscences, ' '  tells  us  that  in  1864 : 

"It  was  publicly  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  only  one  steadfast  friend 
in  the  Lower  House  of  Congress  and  few  more  in  the  Senate.  'They 
urge  me/  he  said  to  Schurz,  'with  almost  violent  language  to  withdraw 
from  the  contest,  although  I  have  been  unanimously  nominated,  In 
order  to  make  room  for  a  better  man.  I  wish  I  could.  Perhaps  some 
other  man  might  do  the  business  better  than  I.  But  I  am  here  and 
the  better  man  is  not  here.  And  if  I  should  step  aside  to  make  room 
for  him,  it  is  not  at  all  sure — perhaps  not  even  probable — that  he 
would  get  here.  It  is  much  more  likely  that  the  factions  opposed  to 
me  would  fall  to  fighting  among  themselves,  and  that  they  would  get 
a  man  whom  most  of  them  would  not  want.  God  knows  I  have  at 
least  tried  very  hard  to  do  my  duty,  to  do  right  to  everybody  and 
wrong  to  nobody.  Have  the  men  who  accuse  me  of  a  lust  for  power 
and  of  doing  unscrupulous  things  to  keep  myself  in  office  thought  of 
the  common  cause  when  trying  to  break  me  down?  I  hope  they  have/ 
— Meanwhile,  the  dusk  of  evening  had  set  in  and  when  the  room  was 
lighted,  I  thought  I  saw  his  sad  eyes  moist  and  his  rugged  features 
working  strangely,  as  if  under  a  very  strong  and  painful  emotion." 

Oh,  most  wonderful  and  all-wise  Congress,  so  ready  always 
to  proclaim  its  own  integrity  and  spotless  virtue!  Oh,  long- 
suffering  leader  of  the  people,  writhing  from  the  taunts  and 
follies  of  congressional  pharisees  and  disappointed  seekers 
after  the  spoils  of  office  and  the  spoils  of  war ! 

But  let  me  recall  two  dates  that  illuminate  each  other  won 
derfully,  disclosing  the  rare  quality  of  Lincoln's  magnanimity. 
On  the  fifth  of  August,  1864,  when  his  re-election  seemed 
doubtful  and  almost  hopeless  to  himself,  there  appeared  in 
The  New  York  Tribune  a  three-columned  manifesto  signed  by 
Benjamin  F.  Wade  and  H.  Winter  Davis,  two  notable  leaders 
of  the  Republican  Party.  They  had  read,  "without  surprise 
but  not  without  indignation,  the  Proclamation  of  July  8.  A 
more  studied  outrage  on  the  legislative  authority  of  the  peo 
ple,  "  they  continued,  "has  never  been  perpetrated.'*  They 
sneeringly  inquired  "upon  what  do  the  President's  hopes  of 
abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation  rest  ? "  If  he  wishes 


124  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  support  of  Congress  he  must  confine  himself  to  his  execu 
tive  duties,  and  they  conclude  with  ill-concealed  malignity, 
1  'the  supporters  of  the  government  should  consider  the  remedy 
for  these  usurpations,  and  having  found  it,  fearlessly  execute 
it. ' '  White  as  my  hair  has  grown,  there  is  blood  enough  in  my 
heart  to  heat  it  with  anger,  even  now,  as  I  recall  the  gloomy 
August  day  of  1864  on  which  I  first  read  these  cruel  words. 
They  ought,  as  we  knew  long  since,  never  to  have  been  written. 
They  were  wrong,  utterly  wrong,  and  it  was  unspeakably 
mean  to  publish  them  when  the  destiny  of  the  country  was 
trembling  in  the  balance. 

Contrast  now  these  self-righteous  statesmen — for  statesmen 
they  were  of  no  small  stature — with  the  man  that  they  assailed. 
They  were  imperilling  the  nation  to  satisfy  their  wounded 
pride.  Lincoln 's  one  thought  was  to  save,  to  save,  to  save  the 
Union. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  August  he  gave  to  the  members  of 
his  Cabinet,  sealed,  to  be  opened  only  after  the  election,  the 
following  memorandum : 

"This  morningj  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceedingly  probable 
that  this  administration  will  not  be  reflected.  Then  it  will  be  my 
duty  to  so  cooperate  with  the  President-elect  as  to  save  the  Union 
between  the  election  and  the  inauguration;  as  he  will  have  secured  his 
election  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  afterward." 

O,  gloriously  expanded  soul !  O,  temple  of  the  Living  God 
not  unworthy  of  its  Almighty  Architect !  Happy  the  people 
whose  destinies,  in  the  hour  of  impending  disaster,  are  en 
trusted  to  a  heart  so  big,  a  mind  so  clear,  a  soul  so  patient  and 
a  will  so  unyielding ! 

Just  forty-eight  years  ago  yesterday,  Abraham  Lincoln 
parted  from  his  friends  and  neighbors,  "not  knowing, "  he 
said,  "when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task 
before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington." 
And  then  he  added:  "Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine 
Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that 
assistance,  I  cannot  fail."  He  never  returned;  only  the  shat 
tered  tenement  of  him  was  given  back  to  the  people  of  Spring 
field.  The  man  himself — his  mind,  his  magnanimous  soul,  his 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  125 

patient,  resolute,  indomitable  will,  the  indestructible  Abraham 
Lincoln — had  entered  into  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  and 
into  the  memory  of  the  civilized  world,  there  to  abide,  an 
energy  for  political  righteousness,  so  long  as  freedom  and 
fraternity  remain  emblazoned  upon  the  banners  of  human 
progress. 

Remembering  this  humble  reference  to  "the  assistance  of 
that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended"  Washington,  is  it  too 
much  to  say  that  Abraham  Lincoln's  soul  expanded  until  it 
became  a  temple  for  Almighty  God  to  dwell  in?  Much  has 
been  written,  and  for  the  most  part  foolishly,  about  the  re 
ligion  of  this  martyred  man.  There  be  those  who  are  ready 
to  affirm  his  piety  with  solemn  oaths,  and  those  also  who  deny 
it  most  profanely.  Let  us  consider  the  matter  calmly  and 
with  candor.  The  enduring  elements  of  piety,  certainly  the 
essentials  of  Christian  piety,  are  these — on  the  one  hand,  an 
unconquerable  belief  in  the  righteousness  of  God,  united  with 
a  steady  desire  to  know  and  obey  his  will ;  on  the  other  hand, 
an  unfaltering  belief  in  sacrifice  for  others  as  the  only  witness 
of  the  faith  that  works  by  love.  Touching  these  essentials, 
the  prophets  of  all  ages  are  agreed,  Jew  and  Gentile,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  orthodox  and  heterodox.  Tried  by  this  stand 
ard,  Lincoln  will  appear  for  all  time  in  word  and  in  deed 
as  a  ruler  clothed  with  the  beauty  of  rare  and  lustrous  good 
ness.  And  note  carefully  how  his  soul  "expanded  to  dimen 
sions  worthy  of  his  Almighty  Architect."  In  1851,  unable 
to  be  present  with  his  dying  father,  he  wrote, — 

.  .  .  "tell  him  to  remember  to  call  upon  and  confide  in  our  great  and 
good  and  merciful  Maker,  who  will  not  turn  away  from  him  in  any 
extremity.  He  notes  the  fall  of  a  sparrow,  and  numbers  the  hairs  of 
our  heads,  and  he  will  not  forget  the  dying  man  who  puts  his  trust 
in  him." 

Writing  to  his  friend  Speed,  then  anxious  about  the  health 
of  his  wife,  he  tells  him  with  a  courage  possible  only  to  per 
fect  friendship : 

"These  horrid  doubts  of  her  affection  for  you  can  be  forever  removed, 
and  I  almost  feel  that  the  Almighty  has  sent  your  present  affliction 
expressly  for  that  object." 


126  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Writing  of  Jefferson's  principles,  he  declared,  " Those  who 
deny  freedom  to  others  deserve  it  not  for  themselves,  and, 
under  a  just  God,  cannot  long  retain  it."  To  Mrs.  Gurney 
he  replied  in  1862 : 

"In  the  very  responsible  position  in  which  I  happen  to  be  placed, 
being  a  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  as 
I  am,  and  as  we  all  are,  to  work  out  his  great  purposes,  I  have  desired 
that  all  my  works  and  acts  may  be  according  to  His  will,  and  that  it 
might  be  so,  I  have  sought  His  aid;  but  if,  after  endeavoring  to  do  my 
best  in  the  light  which  He  affords  me,  I  find  my  efforts  fail,  I  must 
believe  that  for  some  purpose  unknown  to  me,  He  wills  it  otherwise." 

The  second  day  succeeding,  he  wrote  :- 
i 

"The  will  of  God  prevails.  In  great  contests  each  party  claims  to  act 
in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God.  Both  may  be,  and  one  must  be, 
wrong.  God  cannot  be  for  and  against  the  same  thing  at  the  same 
time.  In  the  present  Civil  War  it  is  quite  possible  that  God's  purpose 
is  something  different  from  the  purpose  of  either  party,  and  yet  the 
human  instrumentalities,  working  just  as  they  do,  are  of  the  best 
adaptation  to  effect  His  purpose.  I  am  almost  ready  to  say  that  this 
is  probably  true;  that  God  wills  this  contest,  and  wills  that  it  shall  not 
end  yet." 

To  the  preachers  exhorting  him  "to  get  God  on  his  side," 
he  replied  with  sublime  rebuke  that  he  was  trying  to  get  on 
God's  side.  Upon  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  he  invoked 
the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor 
of  Almighty  God.  To  the  workingmen  of  Manchester,  Eng 
land,  he  wrote  that  * '  their  decisive  utterances  under  the  trying 
circumstances  were  an  instance  of  Christian  heroism  not  sur 
passed  in  any  age  or  in  any  country."  "Let  us,"  he  says, 
in  another  letter,  "diligently  apply  the  means  for  a  speedy, 
final  triumph,  never  doubting  that  a  just  God  in  His  own 
good  time,  will  give  us  the  rightful  result."  "Under  God" 
is  the  phrase  that  gleams  from  the  final  sentence  in  the  Gettys 
burg  Address.  "Duly  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for  having 
directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right  conclusion" — so  he  spoke 
of  his  second  election — "it  adds  nothing  to  my  satisfaction 
that  any  other  man  may  be  disappointed  or  pained  by  the 
result."  And  to  the  widow  whose  five  sons  died  gloriously 
on  the  field  of  battle,  he  wrote : 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  127 

"I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your 
bereavement  and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved 
and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid  so 
costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom." 

Nor  did  he  serve  God  in  words  only.  Not  until  the  books 
of  the  Recording  Angel  shall  be  opened  can  we  know  the 
vigils,  the  agonies  of  this  sympathetic  heart  and  tireless  mind. 
A  man  is  what  he  is  when  alone.  And  in  the  solemn  agonies 
of  the  intervals  when  politicians  ceased  to  trouble  him — his 
"  Gethsemanes  "  he  called  them — prayer  and  meditation 
strengthened  the  high  resolves  that  made  it  possible  to  fulfill 
his  destiny.  The  fierce  light  that  beats  upon  a  living  ruler 
blinds  the  observer's  eyes.  There  is  a  nobler  splendor,  the 
light  that  follows  after  death,  when  falsehoods  vanish  and  the 
truth  comes  forth;  then  the  noble  deeds  performed  in  secret 
are  openly  proclaimed,  and  the  motives  that  guided  the  hero 
in  the  crises  of  a  sublime  career  shine  out  in  perfect  revelation ; 
then  the  walls  of  the  inner  chamber  become  transparent  and 
the  patriot  wrestling  with  his  God  is  seen  upon  his  knees; 
then  the  clouds  of  criticism  and  of  calumny  are  dispersed  and 
the  dawning  judgment  of  posterity  makes  the  path  of  the  just 
to  shine  brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day.  So  when 
Lincoln  fell  and  shook  the  whole  earth  in  his  falling,  that 
which  he  hoped  for  in  his  First  Inaugural  came  to  pass  in 
larger  meaning,  for  then  indeed  "the  better  angels  of  our 
nature"  touched  "the  mystic  chords  of  memory  stretching 
from  every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land"  of  which  this 
martyred  President  was  God's  chosen  saviour  and  his  ac 
cepted  sacrifice.  Then  the  defeated  sections  even  began  to 
understand  him  and  to  embrace  the  form  and  figure  of  his 
mind.  For  the  clouds  which  had  obscured  his  image  in  the 
smoke  of  battle  now  faded  away  forever  in  the  revelation  of 
the  meaning  and  motives  of  his  conduct. 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  his  final  utterances  fall  upon  us 
with  such  benignity;  that  they  seem  more  like  the  solemn 
music  of  infinite  wisdom,  and  of  infinite  tenderness,  than  like 
the  speech  of  mortal  man.  Did  some  still,  small  voice  within 


128  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

him  tell  him  that  he,  too,  must  be  a  victim  of  that  partisan 
malignity  which  he  had  never  shared  and  never  fostered,  that 
it  would  be  a  part  of  the  punishment  allotted  to  his  people 
that  he  should  be  taken  from  them,  even  before  the  mighty 
work  was  done  and  when  as  yet  the  need  of  him  was  very 
great?  Brother  Americans,  we  can  repair  that  great  loss  only 
by  entering  into  his  spirit — not  by  statues  of  marble  or  bronze ; 
not,  God  help  us,  by  reshaping  the  image  of  him  until  it  dwin 
dles  into  something  like  ourselves ;  but  by  reshaping  ourselves, 
our  own  souls,  until  they  resemble  his  in  its  expansive  power 
and  ultimate  nobility. 

If  he  could  return  from  that  bourne — from  which,  alas! 
the  sages  come  not  back  to  bring  us  wisdom — and  frequent 
for  a  while  the  Union  that  he  saved,  how  we  should  crowd 
around  him!  What  honors  and  what  eulogies  would  we  not 
heap  upon  his  transfigured  form !  But  after  we  had  told  him 
proudly  of  our  territorial  expansion,  of  our  enormous  wealth, 
of  our  splendid  cities  with  their  monumental  buildings  soaring 
towards  the  skies,  of  our  flag,  the  symbol  everywhere  of  a  new 
world-power,  of  our  great  industries  and  our  colossal  fortunes, 
I  think  I  hear  him  ask,  But  what  of  your  men?  Do  their 
"  souls  expand  to  dimensions  not  unworthy  of  their  Almighty 
Architect?"  Are  they  inspired  by  principles  that  enlarge 
them  to  divine  proportions?  What  about  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  ?  Are  its  principles  denied  and  evaded  as  they 
used  to  be,  or  are  they  cherished  and  lived  up  to  and  exalted  ? 
Are  its  ideas  of  free  government  applied,  or  are  they  being 
supplanted  by  those  of  class  and  caste  and  special  privilege? 
Are  you  deceived  by  forms  and  sonorous  phrases?  By  men 
who  talk  liberty  and  mean  slavery?  By  men  who  adore  the 
Constitution  with  their  lips  while  their  hearts  are  far  from 
it?  Do  you  fancy,  I  hear  him  ask,  that  because  you  call  no 
man  duke  or  king,  you  are,  therefore,  free  and  independent 
owners  of  yourselves  ?  That  because  you  offer  no  man  openly 
a  crown,  you  are  sovereign  citizens  and  self-governing  com 
munities?  Have  you  not  yet  learned  the  difference  between 
the  forms  and  the  power  of  self-government?  What  about 
your  worship  of  the  Constitution?  There  were  men  in  my 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  129 

time  who  adored  it  in  their  speech  and  who  were  yet  doing 
their  utmost  to  pervert  it  and  to  destroy  its  value.  Have  the 
enemies  of  social  justice  revived  the  old  diabolical  trick  of 
interpreting  it  to  defend  oppression,  or  have  the  people  mas 
tered  the  divine  art  of  reading  it  in  the  light  of  its  sublime 
intention  "to  form  a  more  perfect  Union  and  to  promote  the 
general  welfare?"  And  what  about  your  Legislatures,  State 
and  national  ?  Have  they  improved  with  your  material  prog 
ress  ?  Are  statutes  carefully  prepared  and  wisely  considered  ? 
Do  they  enact  the  laws  of  God  or  the  will  of  some  powerful 
interest  ?  Do  they  conform  to  immutable  principles  of  politi 
cal  wisdom,  or  are  hirelings  and  demagogues,  misguided  incom 
petents  and  ambitious  leaders,  all  wearing  the  livery  of 
freedom,  still  telling  you  that  you  can  evade  and  thwart  and 
even  nullify  with  impunity  the  principles  of  righteousness 
and  equity?  Have  your  political  leaders  eyes,  and  can  they 
see?  Have  they  brains  and  can  they  reason?  Or  do  they 
darken  counsel  with  a  multitude  of  words  ?  Or  shelter  them 
selves  in  cowardly  silence?  Have  they  principles  for  which 
they  are  ready  to  be  assassinated,  or  have  they  principles  only 
for  platforms  or  parade  or  purchase  ? 

Fixing  upon  us  those  piercing  and  melancholy  eyes,  he 
would  warn  us  to  learn  wisdom  in  the  time  of  our  power  and 
our  wealth  and  our  opportunity,  lest  we,  too,  provoke  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God  upon  ourselves  and  our  posterity. 
He  would  remind  us  with  pathetic  solemnity  that  all  the 
miseries  of  those  terrible  years  in  which  he  suffered  for  us 
came  from  judicial  blindness,  from  the  sacrifice  of  conscience 
and  truth  and  freedom  of  speech,  to  avarice  and  ambition  and 
the  lust  of  power ;  and,  lifting  his  hand  to  the  ' '  Almighty  Ar 
chitect"  of  his  own  expanded  and  transfigured  soul,  he  would 
call  upon  us  all  "to  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall 
not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation  .  .  .  shall  have  a 
new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. ' ' 


THE  LITERAEY  SIDE  OF  LINCOLN 

DR.  BERNARD  J.  CIGRAND 

WHEN  the  celebration  of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  birth  was  brought  to  the  attention 
of  our  citizens,  the  idea  of  having  other  than  a  mere  one-day 
celebration  was  thought  impossible ;  experience  had  taught  the 
great  dailies  that  a  week's  festival  would  result  in  failure. 
Some  ventured  to  suggest  that  two  days,  if  carefully  planned, 
might  meet  with  hearty  response,  and  others  referred  to  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as 
a  safe  guide  in  the  Lincoln  memorial  occasion — the  Washing 
ton  exercises  lasting  two  days  and  only  then  having  received 
impetus  from  exhibition  of  tokens  and  relics  of  the  Revolution. 
Your  presence  here  attests,  after  seven  days'  and  nights'  cele 
bration,  that  the  editors,  too,  can  be  mistaken  and  fail  to  ac 
curately  judge  the  public  feeling.  Hundreds  of  exercises  dur 
ing  these  hours  have  been  rendered,  and  this  august  assem 
blage,  crowding  every  available  space,  standing  throughout  a 
long  programme,  showing  no  tedium  after  listening  to  a 
lengthy  discourse — one  long  to  be  remembered  for  its  brilliant 
and  poetic  elements — all  this  demonstrates  in  a  most  emphatic 
manner  that  the  American  love  of  patriotism,  and  the  rev 
erence  for  her  distinguished  heroes,  has  not  faltered.  No! 
For  this  gathering  witnesses  that  our  regard  for  our  founders 
and  our  esteem  for  our  defenders  grows  stronger  and  more 
sturdy  as  the  years  creep  on ;  that  we  of  this  day  have  awak 
ened  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  him  who  led  the  citizens  on 
to  victory ;  that  we  more  eagerly  attest  our  love  for  the  great 
loyalty  of  the  adopted  son  of  the  Prairie  State — Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  so  great,  so  noble,  so  grand,  and  so 
peerless  a  man  that  no  man  living,  no  matter  how  eloquent  may 
be  his  tongue — no  man  living,  no  matter  how  gifted  with  the 

130 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  131 

pen — no  artist,  regardless  of  his  dexterity  with  the  brush — no 
sculptor,  notwithstanding  the  genius  of  his  handicraft — will 
be  able  to  portray,  describe,  paint  or  chisel  that  life-likeness 
of  Lincoln,  which  his  diverse  and  varied  features  and  chang 
ing  countenance  evolved.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  this  genera 
tion — it  is  not  within  the  scope  of  a  now  living  individual,  to 
give  the  correct  and  proper  face  or  figure  of  this  Giant  of  the 
West.  Some  day  in  the  distant  future,  when  we  of  this  day  are 
all  gone,  a  child  will  be  born — perhaps  a  boy,  maybe  a  girl — 
who  will  brush  away  the  prejudices  of  to-day's  history,  sweep 
aside  the  severe  criticisms  of  the  press,  cast  to  the  winds  the 
jealousies  of  geographical  sections,  and  with  the  unfailing  lamp 
of  Truth  and  the  unerring  pen  of  Justice  bring  from  out 
of  this  mingled  darkness  a  beautiful,  clear,  and  truly  living 
soul,  of  which  the  world  in  its  calm  judgment  will  proclaim, 
*  *  It  is  our  Lincoln ! ' ' 

All  has  not  been  told  of  Lincoln.  There  yet  remain  some 
few  trifling  elements  untouched — here  and  there  a  fibre  of 
his  kindness  and  a  stray  thought  of  his  literary  evolution  is 
left  untold.  While  Shakespeare  and  the  Bible  were  the  liter 
ary  treasures  of  his  frugal  home,  he  also  possessed  a  copy  of 
Robert  Burns — the  poetic  singer  of  nature — the  "Longfellow 
of  the  British  Isles";  but  the  volume  which  contributed  patri 
otic  fervor  to  the  youth  Lincoln,  a  book  which,  while  it  may  not 
be  the  equal  of  Shakespeare  for  English,  nor  of  the  Bible  for 
philosophy,  yet  is  without  equal  in  the  portrayal  of  our  form 
of  liberty  and  our  understanding  of  government — the  "Life 
of  General  George  Washington. ' '  Let  me  relate  how  Lincoln 
came  to  have  this  splendid  work.  A  neighboring  farmer  had 
this  great  treasure,  and  Lincoln  who  had  early  read  all  the 
books  within  the  meagrely  supplied  vicinity,  gathered  courage 
and  asked  the  privilege  of  reading  this  copy.  It  was  a  Weems  's 
'  *  Washington. ' '  With  what  eagerness  he  mastered  its  pages — 
with  what  studiousness  he  learned  the  meanings  of  the  difficult 
words!  Our  imagination  only  can  supply  this  picture.  It 
may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  hardly  had  he  finished  the  read 
ing  when,  by  an  unforeseen  element,  the  book  was  practically 
destroyed.  The  Lincoln  home,  as  we  all  know,  was  a  mere 


132  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

cabin — the  naked  earth  as  its  floor — with  a  roof  so  poorly  con 
structed  that  both  the  sunshine  and  the  rain  visited  the  inmates 
at  pleasure.  Well,  one  night  when  young  Abraham  was  asleep, 
a  terrible  rainstorm  came  on,  and  its  watery  elements 
dripped,  drove,  and  drizzled  through  the  roof  and  completely 
soaked  the  favorite  volume,  the  AVeems's  "Washington." 
When  Abe  arose  he  beheld  what  the  storm  had  done,  and 
with  a  heavy  heart  and  eyes  filled  with  tears  he  called  to  see 
the  neighbor  to  explain  how  unforeseen  and  terrible  the  storm 
had  been.  When  he  came  to  the  farmer  he  approached  him 
with  fear  and  trembling,  but  with  a  candid  manner  related  his 
sorrow.  The  farmer  could  well  see  that  the  storm  had  been 
severe ;  he  also  knew  the  frailty  of  the  Lincoln  cabin,  and 
everywhere  were  the  symbols  of  storm  visitation.  "But," 
said  the  farmer,  "that  is  not  the  condition  in  which  I  gave 
you  the  book  and  I  will  not  accept  it  in  that  ruined  and 
dilapidated  form."  Immediately  the  embarrassed  lad  spoke 
up,  "Well,  what  can  I  do  to  adjust  this  injury?  In  what  way 
can  I  right  this  wrong,  and  how  am  I  able  to  show  you  I  mean 
to  do  right?"  Abraham  stood  expectant.  The  farmer  gazed 
into  his  tear-filled  eyes,  and  then  came  the  farmer's  re 
ply,  "That  book  is  worth  six  bits" — or  seventy -five  cents — 
"and  if  you  will  come  and  work  for  me  for  five  or  more 
days,  you  can  keep  the  book;  it  's  of  no  account  to  me  in 
that  ugly  shape."  Eagerly  and  with  inspiration  the  youth 
spoke  up,  "Oh!  you  are  so  kind!  You  can  have  me  a  week 
or  ten  days.  I  will  be  very  glad  to  repay  you  with  my  labor." 
The  next  day  at  sunrise  young  Abe  stood  at  the  farmer's  door. 
He  toiled  for  him  four  days  from  the  break  of  day  till  dark 
ness  stopped  his  hands — eagerly,  anxiously,  and  willingly. 
He  worked,  dreaming  of  his  great  and  unexpected  conquest. 
He  would  own  that  "Life  of  Washington."  He  could  then 
follow  more  closely  its  true  purpose.  The  farmer,  seeing 
with  what  joyful  and  happy  tenor  he  prosecuted  the  task,  said, 
on  the  fourth  night,  "You  have  labored  faithfully;  you  have 
done  the  work  satisfactorily  and  you  need  not  come  any 
more.  I  feel  you  have  fully  paid  for  the  ' Washington.'  ' 
The  terrible  storm  had  left  in  its  wake  a  treasure,  the  "Life 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  133 

of  Washington, ' '  and  with  renewed  effort  the  student  Lincoln 
resumed  the  happy  opportunity  of  getting  still  closer  to  the 
great  life  of  the  leader  of  the  colonial  patriots. 

Another  feature  in  the  life  of  Lincoln  which  influenced 
his  literary  taste  and  shaped  his  destiny  as  a  God-fearing  cit 
izen  was  the  death  of  his  beloved  mother.  While  he  was  yet 
a  lad  of  less  than  ten,  she  lay  ill  at  the  poorly  furnished  home 
— no  doctor  to  minister  to  her  needs,  no  neighbors  to  comfort 
or  care  for  her.  One  day  as  the  close  of  her  life  was  ap 
proaching,  she  called  the  dear  son  to  her  side  and  said,  "Abra 
ham,  your  mother  will  never  rise  from  this  cot.  I  am  going 
to  leave  you.  I  am  about  to  die."  Clasping  her  slender 
arms  about  his  childish  form  she  continued,  "Be  kind  to 
your  little  sister  Sarah  and  take  the  Bible  as  your  guide 
through  life,  and  God  will  watch  over  your  dear  soul."  The 
mother  died  and  the  stricken  boy  was  beyond  comforting. 
He  sobbed,  he  cried,  and  in  anguish  resigned  himself  to  the 
loss  of  this  tender  mother.  He  and  his  father  went  into  the 
deep  woods,  chopped  down  a  tree,  and  prepared  a  rude 
coffin  for  her  dead  form.  They  alone — without  neighbors, 
without  ceremony,  and  without  sympathizing  relatives — laid 
her  tenderly  in  her  grave  at  the  foot  of  a  tall  sycamore  tree. 
The  winds  moaned  the  dirge,  the  birds  sang  the  requiem,  and 
the  heart  of  the  lad  felt  the  solemnity  of  the  sermon  of 
Nature.  Oh!  he  loved  his  mother  dearly;  he  revered  her 
memory  daily;  and  in  sunshine  revery,  or  in  midnight 
dreams  he  saw  that  beautiful  mother's  face.  He  pined  that 
no  sacred  hymns  were  chanted  at  her  grave.  He  regretted 
that  their  poverty  forbade  even  the  presence  of  a  minister, 
and  he  could  not  forget  that  she  had  deserved  so  much  and 
received  so  little.  In  the  height  of  childish  resolution  he 
prepared  to  have  a  minister  come  from  some  distant  part 
to  preach  a  sermon,  or  say  at  least  o'er  her  dead  body  the 
"Lord's  Prayer." 

Finally,  after  considerable  trials  and  hardship,  he  man 
aged  to  induce  a  clergyman  who  lived  something  over  a 
hundred  miles  away  to  come  and  pay  this  final  tribute  to  the 
departed  mother.  New  life  came  to  him  after  this  debt  of 


134,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

respect  was  paid.  He  read  the  Bible,  and  from  it,  especially 
from  the  New  Testament,  he  drank  in  with  unquenchable 
thirst  the  new  philosophy  of  the  Scriptures.  These  words, 
and  in  this  beautifully  clothed  form,  lent  new  ideals  to  him, 
and  here  he  found  the  essence  of  so  much  which  he  so  freely 
referred  to  in  later  years.  This  new  drift — this  biblical  lit 
erature — came  into  his  life  as  a  request  of  a  dying  mother. 
That  he  held  her  advice  dear  and  that  he  profited  by  it,  let 
us  take  his  own  words  as  the  best  of  proof.  For  when  he  had 
reached  the  zenith  of  his  career  he  paid  motherhood  the 
highest,  most  sublime  and  eloquent  tribute  to  be  found  in 
our  language,  when  he  said,  "All  I  am  or  ever  hope  to  be  I 
owe  to  my  angel  mother/' 

The  boy  possessed,  too,  a  copy  of  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and 
from  its  splendid  English  he  learned  the  smooth  and  sooth- 
ful  diction  of  the  great  'John  Bunyan;  in  these  writings  he 
learned  to  appreciate  the  truth  of  the  supremacy  of  justice  and 
the  everywhere-applicable  principles  of  moderation  coupled 
with  righteousness. 

Lincoln  was  indeed  a  remarkable  combination  of  literary 
influences,  and  it  must  not,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  seem 
the  glory  of  the  North  alone,  that  he  lived.  Lincoln  was  in 
truth  a  Southerner  by  both  birth  and  training,  but  a  North 
erner  by  both  sentiment  and  principle.  His  parents,  both 
paternal  and  maternal,  were  of  Southern  extraction  and  he 
was  shaped  in  his  love  for  liberty  by  Southern  writers, 
Southern  orators,  and  Southern  statesmen,  who  possessed  the 
broad  and  patriotic  national  love.  He  read  Washington, 
and  there  learned  of  the  evolution  of  American  freedom;  he 
studied  and  admired  Thomas  Jefferson,  whose  unanswerable 
statement  that  "All  men  are  born  equal"  became  the  very 
foundation  stone  of  our  national  fabric,  the  very  substance  of 
the  Lincoln  campaign.  This  eminent  advocate  of  universal 
privilege,  was  a  Virginian.  The  master-mind  of  the  Constitu 
tional  Convention,  James  Madison,  was  one  of  his  ideals, 
and  he  too  came  from  Virginia.  Then  there  was  Patrick 
Henry  who  preceded  all  others  in  his  defiance  of  tyranny 
for  liberty.  He  too  came  from  the  old  Dominion,  and  when 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  135 

the  National   Constitution  was  put  into  operation  with  all 
its  uncertain   constructions  and  its  innumerable   undefined 
meanings,  it  was  a  Virginian  of  unequalled  legal  sagacity 
and  remarkable  discernment,  who  gave  direction  to  that  in 
strument.     This  man,  who  more  than  any  other  living  states 
man  stamped  the  correct  seal  upon  our  national  destiny,  was 
the  scholar,  patriot,  and  ever-famed  John  Marshall  of  Vir 
ginia.     Thus   Southerners   of   a   national   spirit   practically 
shaped  our  Lincoln  for  the  superhuman  task  of  saving  the 
Union  of  States.     Their  writings,  their  eloquent  words,  and 
clear  documents  of  state  prepared  Lincoln  to  appreciate  the 
oratorical  efforts  of  Webster  and  Hayne  in  their  fiery  con 
tests  for  their  respective  sections;  and,  when  the  great  cloud 
of  secession  came  on  the  horizon,  none  in  the  broad  land 
was  more   capable   of  seeing  hope   or  seeing   light   in   the 
scenes  of  war  about  to  take  effect.     We  have  just  celebrated 
his  matchless  debates  with  the  "Little  Giant,"  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  and  we  are  still  filled  with  admiration  for  his  cool, 
collected,  and  logical  arguments  in  favor  of  the  Constitution 
and  Union  of  the  forefathers.     He  demonstrated  to  an  ex 
pectant  general  public  that  while  he  might  not  be  generally 
known,  he  nevertheless  was  generally  informed.     The  Doug 
las  defeat  which  brought  to  the  surface  the  literary  ability 
of  Lincoln   was  the  beginning  of  much  distress   for  him. 
He  was  sought  as  the  presidential  candidate,  and  to  permit 
the  far  East  to  enjoy  itself,  some  editors  proposed  to  invite 
Lincoln  to  New  York  "and  let  us  hear  what  this  backwoods 
man  knows  of  the  Constitution."     Every  one  was  asked  to 
come  to  the  Cooper  Union  speech.     "It  will  be  a  rare  treat," 
they  wrote.     "Lincoln   is   a   queer   fellow;   his   clothes   are 
shabby,  ill-fitting,  and  his  long  hair  unkempt.     But  come  out 
to  see  him ;  this  ungainly  lawyer  when  he  walks  down  Broad 
way  in  his  unstyled  suit,  will  bring  hysteria  to  all  New 
York." 

Yes,  he  brought  hysteria  to  old  New  York,  but  of  a  far 
different  kind  than  they  had  expected.  He  came  to  the  gath 
ering.  He  was  introduced  to  a  curiously  interested  audi 
ence.  He  stood  in  an  ungainly  manner;  his  face  seemed 


186  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

all  bones,  and  homely;  his  hair  did  hang  carelessly  about 
his  head,  and  his  deeply  sunken  eyes  hid  behind  shaggy  eye 
brows.  The  crowds  scanned  him  critically.  The  editors  had 
painted  him  in  proper  hues,  and  in  truth  they  would  be  en 
tertained  in  a  novel  and  most  odd  fashion.  Lincoln,  from 
the  first  sentence,  seemed  to  arouse  laughter;  he  gained  their 
attention,  and  as  he  progressed  in  the  vivid  description  of 
the  evolution,  construction,  and  meaning  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  supplemented  by  his  graphic  analysis  of  the 
basic  law  of  the  land — our  Constitution — he  awakened  hearty 
response.  The  hearers  were  amazed  at  his  language;  they 
were  spellbound  by  his  clinching  arguments;  they  eagerly 
drank  in  the  eloquence  and  all  forgot  his  physical  pose.  They 
now  saw  the  real  man.  With  flush  of  cheek,  the  brow  sym 
bolizing  intelligence,  the  eyes  aglow  with  fires  of  truth,  and 
in  all  a  giant  of  the  rostrum,  amid  storms  of  applause  he  stood 
defending  the  heritage  of  from  Lexington  to  Yorktown. 

The  Gettysburg  Address,  this  day  presented  to  the  Chicago 
Public  Library,  is  on  copper,  and,  like  the  metal  upon  which 
it  is  embossed,  will  not  corrode  in  our  memory.  It  is  doubt 
less  one  of  our  truly  American  literary  pearls.  The  occasion 
upon  which  Lincoln  gave  it,  has  features  which  appeal  to  us 
all.  The  terrible  Battles  of  Gettysburg — fought  on  July  1, 
2,  and  3,  of  '63 — brought  sorrow  to  more  homes  than  any 
battle  in  modern  times.  Thirty-four  thousand  wearing  the 
gray  and  twenty-three  thousand  clothed  in  the  blue  died  in 
the  struggle  to  rear  their  beloved  colors — in  anguish,  in  mad 
ness,  and  in  superhuman  defiance,  died  in  defence  of  their 
flag.  About  a  hundred  days  later  the  nation  dedicated  on 
this  battlefield  a  cemetery.  The  occasion  was  memorable; 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  admiring  living  would  be  there 
to  witness  the  event,  and  the  most  distinguished  orator  in  all 
the  land  was  invited  to  deliver  the  address  of  the  day.  The 
orator,  Edward  Everett,  was  chosen,  and  the  day  of  dedication 
at  hand,  when  one  of  the  Committee  perchance  thought  of 
inviting  Abraham  Lincoln  to  be  present;  some  other  ven 
turous  committeemen  ventured  the  suggestion  that  Lincoln 
be  asked  to  make  a  talk.  This  fell  on  approving  ears.  The 


Statue  of  Abraham   Lincoln  by  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens,    1887 
(Located  at  the  south  end  of  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago) 


From  a  photograph  copyright,  U><>7,  l>y  Auyuatu  II.  Saint-Gaudens 


Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens,  1907 

(A  gift  to  the  South  Side  of  Chicago,  to  be  erected  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Crerar 

Fund.    Not  yet  unveiled.     Reproduced  by  permission  of  the 

Trustees  of  the  Crerar  Fund) 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  137 

objection  quickly  came,  "He  will  hardly  expect  that,  and 
moreover,  before  such  an  august  audience  he  will  not  be 
heard,  and  we  want  this  to  be  the  occasion  of  master-effort 
oratory."  The  people  gathered.  The  great  and  eminent 
were  present.  Lincoln  had  finally  been  invited;  but  he  was 
allowed  to  understand  that  the  eminent,  the  distinguished 
and  flowery  Edward  Everett,  would  be  expected  to  consume 
such  time  as  he  desired.  The  far-famed  orator  from  New 
England  was  introduced.  He  proceeded  with  all  the  knowl 
edge  of  oratory  to  gather  the  auditory  admiration;  he  was 
painting  beautiful  scenes ;  he  was  designing  carefully  studied 
equations  of  eloquence;  he  was  delving  into  ancient  history, 
bringing  to  the  surface  the  beauties  of  the  ruins  of  the  old 
world,  and  seemed  in  a  serene  atmosphere  of  all  that  was 
rhetorical — learned,  scholarly,  and  poetic.  His  discourse 
lasted  one  hour  and  a  half,  and  the  assemblage  had  truly 
heard  a  great  man.  Then  the  humble,  the  somewhat  shunned 
President  of  the  United  States  was  introduced.  He  calmly, 
yet  with  a  depth  of  sadness  never  equalled,  came  forward. 
His  bowed  head  was  weary  of  the  strife;  his  eyes  had  wept 
bitter  tears  of  sorrow;  his  noble  soul  had  suffered  untold 
agonies  during  the  days  that  Gettysburg  resounded  with 
cannonading.  He  stood  erect,  and,  in  a  majestic  and  almost 
divine  attitude,  began  that  grand  summary  of  our  history. 
His  Address  lasted  just  four  minutes,  during  which  time  he 
pictured  plainly  the  settlement  period,  then  the  Revolu 
tionary  epoch,  then  the  Constitutional  career  of  this  great 
nation.  He  followed  up  with  the  struggle  at  Gettysburg; 
reassured  the  living  and  the  martyred  that  the  dead  had  not 
died  in  vain;  climaxed  the  scene  with  renewed  devotion 
to  liberty,  and  proclaimed  the  everlasting  reign  of  our  free 
dom.  The  world  little  remembers  what  Everett  said  that 
day.  His  logic,  his  conclusions,  and  all  the  bright  colors  of 
that  canvas  have  darkened  and  almost  faded  away;  but  the 
living  shades  from  the  eloquent  lips  of  Lincoln — they  live — 
they  will  continue  to  grow  more  clearly  and  take  on  their 
true  harmonies  as  the  days  enter  the  portals  of  our  eastern 
shores,  the  youth  of  the  land  eagerly  drink  in  their  meaning ; 


138  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  the  best  and  most  unselfish  history  of  the  United  States 
can  be  seen  in  the  words  of  the  Gettysburg  Address. 

This  one  Address  stamps  Lincoln  as  a  master  of  our  lan 
guage — makes  him  a  part  of  the  literary  galaxy  of  our  land. 
His  constant  faith  in  books  and  his  ever-willingness  to  make 
them  his  companions  lends  reason  for  my  classing  him  as 
a  literary  product.  He  had  no  teachers  and  his  greatness 
rested  on  his  book  foundations.  He  believed  in  books  and 
loved  them;  he  pronounced  them  his  "unfailing  and  unfalter 
ing  friends."  When  all  was  dark  and  gloomy  and  even  hope 
seemed  madness;  when  senators  could  not  be  trusted;  when 
representatives  deceived  him;  when  generals  deserted  the 
cause;  when  diplomats  in  the  foreign  lands  traitorously  lent 
the  Confederacy  aid;  and  when  even  his  own  Cabinet  was 
disloyal  to  him  personally — then  he  would  steal  into  the 
library  of  the  "White  House  and  bury  himself  in  the  depths 
of  some  favorite  prose  or  poetry.  His  poetic  nature  naturally 
sought  relief  in  quietude,  and  his  choice  lines  from  Knox 
were  thoroughly  expressive  of  his  broad  and  democratic  na 
ture.  The  lines  he  most  loved  were : 

"The  leaves  of  the  oak  and  the  willow  shall  fade, 
Be  scatter'd  around  and  together  be  laid; 
And  the  young  and  the  old  and  the  low  and  the  high, 
Shall  moulder  to  dust  yet  together  shall  lie." 

Then  he  would  emerge  from  the  book-world  with  new 
hopes,  with  new  life,  and  with  renewed  fortitude,  and  assume 
his  stern  and  oath-bound  duty. 

Lincoln  was  the  happy  embodiment  of  the  typically  national 
American ;  he  seemed  to  possess  that  peculiar  requisite  which 
the  times  demanded,  and  was  well  equipped  and  thoroughly 
prepared  mentally  and  physically  to  endure  those  hardships, 
and  triumph  over  almost  unsurmountable  obstacles.  We  all 
love  Abraham  Lincoln.  His  very  name  brings  warmth  to 
our  hearts.  His  life  was  exemplary  of  loyalty  and  his  name 
is  inscribed  high  on  the  rolls  of  fame.  While  he  was  a  farmer, 
he  does  not  belong  to  them ;  though  a  lawyer,  yet  the  attorneys 
can  not  claim  him;  though  he  fought  with  the  North,  yet  he 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  139 

does  not  seem  our  own.  He  can  not  be  claimed  a  full  pos 
session  by  even  the  entire  Union.  Lincoln  has  grown,  and 
endeared  himself,  and  now  belongs  to  the  entire  liberty-lov 
ing  world. 


THE  FREEPORT  DEBATE 

GEN.  SMITH  D.  ATKINS 

I  AM  to  speak  about  that  which  it  appears  to  me  happened 
only  yesterday — the  joint  debate  between  Abraham  Lin 
coln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  at  Freeport,  August  27,  1858. 

I  want  you  to  remember  these  two  things:  The  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820,  that  excluded  slavery  by  an  Act  of 
Congress  from  the  Territories,  was  repealed  in  1854 ;  the  Dred 
Scott  case  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  1856,  and 
that  Court  decided  that  slavery  was  recognized  in  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  and  went  into  all  the  Territories, 
and  everywhere  that  the  Constitution  was  supreme,  there 
being  no  power  that  could  exclude  it,  legislative,  executive  or 
judicial;  and  that  therefore  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of 
1787,  the  Free  State  Constitution  of  Illinois  of  1818,  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise  of  1820,  were  null  and  void  so  far  as  the 
question  of  slavery  was  concerned.  These  were  the  burning 
questions  discussed. 

Mr.  Lincoln  arrived  in  Freeport  from  Mendota  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  went  to  his  room  in  the  Brewster 
House.  There  was  no  conference  of  leading  Republicans  as 
to  the  course  Mr.  Lincoln  should  pursue,  nothing  of  the  kind. 
All  discussion  appeared  to  come  about  purely  by  accident — • 
the  door  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  room  wide  open,  people  coming  and 
going  as  they  chose. 

The  subject  under  discussion  when  I  entered  the  room 
was  the  solemn  manner  of  Mr.  Lincoln 's  oratory  in  the  first  of 
the  series  of  joint  debates  at  Ottawa,  on  August  21,  all  present 
who  engaged  in  the  conversation  urging  Lincoln  to  drop 
his  solemn  style  of  argument  and  tell  stories,  as  did  Tom 
Corwin,  of  Ohio,  and  "catch  the  crowd." 

Mr.  Lincoln  appeared  greatly  amused,  and  said  very  little, 

140 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  141 

but  after  a  while  he  drew  from  his  pocket  a  list  of  questions 
that  he  had  carefully  prepared  and  which  he  proposed  to 
ask  Mr.  Douglas.  The  reading  of  those  questions  created  a 
storm  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  nearly  everyone  present,  es 
pecially  the  second  question,  "Can  the  people  of  a  United 
States  Territory,  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the  wish  of  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits 
prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution  ? "  Nearly  all 
present  urged  that  Mr.  Douglas  would  answer  that  under  his 
doctrine  of  "Popular  Sovereignty,"  any  Territory  could  by 
"unfriendly  legislation"  exclude  slavery,  and  Mr.  Douglas 
would  ' '  catch  the  crowd ' '  and  beat  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  candidate 
for  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois. 

Mr.  Lincoln  listened  attentively,  and  with  wonderful  pa 
tience,  while  those  arguments  were  urged  against  the  course  he 
proposed  to  pursue,  but  finally,  he  slowly  and  deliberately 
replied  in  substance — and  in  his  own  words  as  nearly  as  I  can 
now  remember  them — "Well,  as  to  my  changing  my  style  of 
argument,  I  will  not  do  that — the  subject  is  too  solemn  and 
important.  That  is  settled.  Now  as  to  the  other  point — 
I  don 't  know  how  Mr.  Douglas  will  answer ;  if  he  answers  that 
the  people  of  a  Territory  cannot  exclude  slavery,  I  will  beat 
him;  but  if  he  answers  as  you  say  he  will,  and  as  I  believe 
he  will,  he  may  beat  me  for  Senator,  but  he  will  never  be 
President" 

Mr.  Lincoln  did,  in  the  joint  debate  in  the  afternoon,  ask 
'Judge  Douglas  the  question  that  had  been  the  subject  of  so 
much  discussion,  and  Douglas  did  answer,  as  all  said  that  he 
would,  and  as  Lincoln  believed  that  he  would,  and  Douglas  did 
beat  Lincoln  as  a  candidate  for  Senator  from  Illinois.  But  in 
making  that  answer  Douglas  put  himself  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  he  so  offended  the  Democrats 
of  the  South  that  they  instantly  denounced  him.  That  an 
swer  made  by  Douglas  to  Lincoln's  question  in  Freeport,  on 
August  27,  1858,  split  the  Democratic  National  Convention 
at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1860,  and  as  Lincoln  had  pre 
dicted,,  made  the  election  of  Douglas  as  President  impossible. 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  popular  opinion  was  and  is,  that  it  made  Lincoln  so  well 
known  throughout  the  country  as  to  result  in  his  own  nom 
ination  and  election  as  President  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas  had  long  been  rivals,  but,  by 
his  superior  ability  as  a  debater,  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Freeport,  Aug 
ust  27,  1858,  passed  his  rival  and  went  onward  to  the  presi 
dency,  the  goal  of  political  ambition  which  Mr.  Douglas  never 
reached. 

And  when  Mr.  Lincoln  became  President  and  read  his  won 
derful  Inaugural  Address,  it  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas  who 
stood  by  his  side  and  held  his  hat.  I  heard  Senator  Douglas 
say  in  Springfield,  in  April,  1861,  "The  time  has  come  when 
there  can  be  but  two  parties  in  this  country,  patriots  and 
traitors/*  He  was  as  loyal  as  was  Mr.  Lincoln.  And,  better 
still,  the  Douglas  Democrats  of  Illinois — and,  better  than  that, 
the  Douglas  Democrats  throughout  all  the  loyal  North — were 
as  loyal  as  their  loyal  leader.  Shortly  afterward  the  great 
Senator  died.  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  longer — lived  to  conduct  suc 
cessfully  the  suppression  of  the  greatest  rebellion  in  history, 
and  when  the  sunlight  of  complete  victory  filled  all  the  land 
with  joy,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assassinated. 

Sometimes  I  almost  despair  of  the  Republic.  Three  of  the 
Presidents  in  my  short  lifetime  have  so  met  death  by  assas 
sination.  Why  it  was  that  the  good  Lord  God  Almighty 
permitted  it,  I  do  not  understand.  God's  ways  are  not  our 
ways.  We  dare  not  criticise.  We  must  submit.  Standing 
by  the  bedside  of  Mr.  Lincoln  when  he  died  was  his  great  War 
Secretary,  Stanton,  who  said,  "Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages. 
Name  his  name  once  more — Abraham  Lincoln — then  leave  it 
in  undying  glory  forever  shining  on  in  history. " 


TWO  MOMENTOUS  MEETINGS 

MAJ.-GEN.  FREDERICK  DENT  GRANT 

I  FEEL  deeply  honored  that  you  have  called  upon  me  on 
this  interesting  occasion,  but  I  have  great  modesty  in 
speaking  to  you  here,  in  the  presence  of  these  many  distin 
guished  and  gifted  orators,  and  while  I  appreciate  the  compli 
ment  you  pay  me,  I  fully  realize  that  it  is  not  myself 
personally  whom  you  wish  to  hear,  but  that  I  am  being  wel 
comed  as  the  son  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  who  served  his  country 
faithfully,  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  who  loyally  loved  our 
martyred  President,  revering  his  memory  throughout  his  life ; 
it  is  the  descendant  of  Lincoln's  friend  and  compatriot  whom 
you  call  upon  for  a  few  words. 

This  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  is  an  occasion  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
honor  themselves  in  celebrating,  and  they  should,  in  my  opin 
ion,  keep  forever  green  the  memory  of  this  great  American 
statesman  and  patriot  by  making  the  annual  anniversary  of 
his  birth  a  national  holiday. 

It  was  my  great  good  fortune  to  be  with  my  father,  close 
at  his  side,  much  of  the  time  during  the  Civil  War,  when  I 
had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  and  listening  to  many  of  the 
noble  and  distinguished  men  who  were  loyally  serving  their 
country  during  that  great  struggle;  thus  I  had  the  honor 
and  happiness  of  seeing  and  meeting  our  revered  and  mar 
tyred  President,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  looking  back  to  those  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War,  I  have 
distinct  personal  recollections  of  the  first  two  meetings  be 
tween  President  Lincoln  and  my  father,  General  U.  S.  Grant. 
These  two  occasions  seem  to  my  mind  the  most  momentous  and 
memorable  in  the  history  of  our  nation,  as  these  meetings 

143 


144  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

marked  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  our  great  struggle  for 
the  existence  of  our  nation. 

The  principal  and  determined  efforts  of  President  Lincoln's 
administration  were  directed  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union, 
which,  naturally,  could  not  be  accomplished  without  the  suc 
cess  of  the  Union  armies  in  the  field.  Up  to  the  Spring  of 
1864  the  progress  of  the  Civil  War  had  not  been  satisfactory 
to  the  people  of  the  North,  and  little  success  had  been  accom 
plished  except  in  the  victories  at  Donelson,  Vicksburg,  and 
Chattanooga. 

After  the  Campaign  of  Chattanooga,  the  President  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States  turned  impulsively  to  General 
Grant  as  the  leader  of  the  Union  Armies,  and  a  bill  was  intro 
duced  in  Congress  reviving  for  him  the  grade  of  Lieutenant- 
General,  which  grade  had  died  with  Washington  (though 
Scott  had  held  it  by  brevet).  The  enthusiastic  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  received  the  bill  with  applause. 
They  made  no  concealment  of  their  wishes,  and  recommended 
Grant  by  name  for  the  appointment  of  Lieutenant- General. 
The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  two-thirds  majority;  and  the 
Senate,  with  only  six  dissenting  votes. 

President  Lincoln  seemed  impatient  to  put  Grant  in  this 
high  grade,  and  said  he  desired  to  do  so  to  relieve  himself 
from  the  responsibilities  of  managing  the  military  forces.  He 
sent  the  nomination  to  the  Senate,  and  General  Grant,  who 
was  at  Nashville,  received  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
War,  to  report  in  person  at  Washington.  In  compliance 
with  this  order,  he  left  Chattanooga  on  March  5,  for  Washing 
ton,  taking  with  him  some  members  of  his  staff.  My  father 
allowed  me  to  accompany  him  there,  I  having  been  with 
him  during  the  Vicksburg  campaign  and  at  Donelson.  We 
reached  Washington  in  the  afternoon  of  March  7,  and  went 
direct  to  Willard's  Hotel.  After  making  our  toilets,  my 
father  took  me  with  him  to  the  hotel  dining-room.  There  I 
remember  seeing  at  the  table  next  to  where  we  were  seated, 
some  persons  who  seemed  curious,  and  who  began  to  whisper 
to  each  other.  After  several  moments  one  of  the  gentlemen 
present  attracted  attention  by  pounding  on  the  table  with 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  145 

his  knife,  and  when  silence  was  secured,  arose  and  announced 
to  the  assembled  diners  that  he  had  "the  honor  to  inform  them, 
that  General  Grant  was  present  in  the  room  with  them."  A 
shout  arose,  ' '  Grant !  Grant !  Grant ! ' '  People  sprang  to  their 
feet  wild  with  excitement,  and  three  cheers  were  proposed, 
which  were  given  with  wild  enthusiasm.  My  father  arose 
and  bowed,  and  the  crowd  began  to  surge  around  him;  after 
that,  dining  became  impossible  and  an  informal  reception  was 
held  for  perhaps  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  but  as  there 
seemed  to  be  no  end  to  the  crowd  assembling,  my  father  left 
the  dining-room  and  retired  to  his  apartments.  All  this 
scene  was  most  vividly  impressed  upon  my  youthful  mind. 

Senator  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  ex-Secretary  of 
War,  soon  called  at  Willard's  Hotel  for  my  father,  and  ac 
companied  him,  with  his  staff,  to  the  White  House,  where 
President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  were  holding  a  reception. 

As  my  father  entered  the  drawing-room  door  at  the  White 
House,  the  other  visitors  fell  back  in  silence,  and  President 
Lincoln  received  my  father  most  cordially,  taking  both  his 
hands,  and  saying,  "I  am  most  delighted  to  see  you,  General." 
I  myself  shall  never  forget  this  first  meeting  of  Lincoln  and 
Grant.  It  was  an  impressive  affair,  for  there  stood  the  Ex 
ecutive  of  this  great  nation,  welcoming  the  Commander  of 
its  armies.  I  see  them  now  before  me — Lincoln,  tall,  thin,  and 
impressive,  with  deeply  lined  face,  and  his  strong  sad  eyes — 
Grant,  compact,  of  good  size,  but  looking  small  beside  the 
President,  with  his  broad,  square  head  and  compressed  lips, 
decisive  and  resolute.  This  was  a  thrilling  moment,  for  in 
the  hands  of  these  two  men  was  the  destiny  of  our  country. 
Their  work  was  in  cooperation,  for  the  preservation  of  our 
great  nation,  and  for  the  liberty  of  men.  They  remained 
talking  together  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  General  Grant 
passed  on  into  the  East  Room  with  the  crowd  which  sur 
rounded  and  cheered  him  wildly,  and  all  present  were  eager 
to  press  his  hand.  The  guests  present  forced  him  to  stand 
upon  a  sofa,  insisting  that  he  could  be  better  seen  by  all.  I 
remember  that  my  father,  of  whom  they  wished  to  make  a 
hero,  blushed  most  modestly  at  these  enthusiastic  attentions, 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

all  present  joining  in  expressions  of  affection  and  applause. 
Soon  a  messenger  reached  my  father  calling  him  back  to  the 
side  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  with  her  he  made  a  tour  of  the  recep 
tion  rooms,  followed  by  President  Lincoln,  whose  noble,  rugged 
face  beamed  with  pleasure  and  gratification. 

When  an  opportunity  presented  itself  for  them  to  speak 
privately,  President  Lincoln  said  to  my  father,  "I  am  to 
formally  present  you  your  commission  to-morrow  morning  at 
ten  o'clock,  and  knowing,  General,  your  dread  of  speaking,  I 
have  written  out  what  I  have  to  say,  and  will  read  it;  it  will 
only  be  four  or  five  sentences.  I  would  like  you  to  say  some 
thing  in  reply  which  will  soothe  the  feeling  of  jealousy  among 
the  officers,  and  be  encouraging  to  the  nation."  Thus  spoke 
this  great  and  noble  peacemaker  to  the  general  who  so  heartily 
coincided  with  him  in  sentiments  and  work  for  union  and 
peace. 

When  the  reception  was  over  at  the  White  House,  my  father 
returned  to  Willard's  Hotel,  where  a  great  crowd  was  again 
assembled  to  greet  him  and  remained  with  him  until  a  late 
hour  of  the  night.  After  the  crowd  had  dispersed,  my  father 
sat  down  and  wrote  what  he  intended  to  say  the  following 
day  in  receiving  his  commission  promoting  him  to  the  Lieu 
tenant- Generalcy  and  to  the  command  of  the  Union  armies. 

Father  proceeded  to  the  White  House  a  few  minutes  before 
ten  o  'clock  the  next  morning,  permitting  me  to  accompany  him. 
Upon  arriving  there,  General  Grant  and  his  staff  were  ushered 
into  the  President's  office,  which  I  remember  was  the  room 
immediately  above  what  is  now  known  as  the  Red  Room  of 
the  Executive  Mansion.  There  the  President  and  his  Cabinet 
were  assembled,  and  after  a  short  and  informal  greeting,  all 
standing,  the  President  faced  General  Grant,  and  from  a 
sheet  of  paper  read  the  following : 

"GENERAL  GRANT:  The  nation's  appreciation  of  what  you  have  done, 
and  its  reliance  upon  you  for  what  remains  to  do  in  the  existing  great 
struggle,  are  now  presented  with  this  commission,  constituting  you 
lieutenant-general  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States. 

"With  this  high  honor  devolves  upon  you  also  a  corresponding  re 
sponsibility.  As  the  country  herein  trusts  you,  so,  under  God,  it  will 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  147 

sustain  you.     I  scarcely  need  add,  that  with  what  I  here  speak  for  the 
nation,  goes  my  own  hearty  personal  concurrence." 

My  father,  taking  from  his  pocket  a  sheet  of  paper  contain 
ing  the  words  that  he  had  written  the  night  before,  read 
quietly  and  modestly,  to  the  President  and  his  Cabinet : 

"MB.  PRESIDENT  :  I  accept  the  commission  with  gratitude  for  the  high 
honor  conferred.  With  the  aid  of  the  noble  armies  that  have  fought 
in  so  many  fields  for  our  common  country,  it  will  be  my  earnest  en 
deavor  not  to  disappoint  your  expectations.  I  feel  the  full  weight  of 
the  responsibilities  now  devolving  upon  me,  and  I  know  that  if  they 
are  met,  it  will  be  due  to  those  armies,  and,  above  all,  to  the  favor  of 
that  Providence  which  leads  both  nations  and  men." 

President  Lincoln  seemed  to  be  profoundly  happy,  and 
General  Grant  deeply  gratified.  It  was  a  supreme  moment 
when  these  two  patriots  shook  hands,  in  confirming  the  com 
pact  that  was  to  finish  our  terrible  Civil  War  and  to  save  our 
united  country,  and  to  give  us  a  nation  without  master  and 
without  a  slave. 

From  the  time  of  these  meetings,  the  friendship  between 
the  President  and  my  father  was  most  close  and  loyal.  Pres 
ident  Lincoln  seemed  to  have  absolute  confidence  in  General 
Grant,  and  my  father  always  spoke  of  the  President  with  the 
deepest  admiration  and  affection.  This  affection  and  loyal 
confidence  was  maintained  between  them  until  their  lives 
ended. 

I  feel  deeply  grateful  to  have  been  present  when  these  two 
patriots  met,  on  the  occasion  when  they  loyally  promised  one 
another  to  preserve  the  Union  at  all  costs.  I  preserve  al 
ways,  as  a  treasure  in  my  home,  a  large  bronze  medallion 
which  was  designed  by  a  distinguished  artist  at  the  request 
of  the  loyal  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  upon  the  happy  termina 
tion  of  our  great  Civil  War,  and  which  is  a  beautiful  work  of 
art.  Upon  this  bronze  medallion  are  three  faces,  in  relief, 
with  the  superscription :  "Washington  the  Father,  Lincoln  the 
Saviour,  and  Grant  the  Preserver" — emblematic  of  a  great 
and  patriotic  trinity. 


A  VOICE  FROM  THE  SOUTH 

HON.   J.  M.  DICKINSON 

WHAT  I  say  will  carry  no  significance,  if  I  voice  merely 
my  personal  sentiments,  though  they  accord  entirely 
with  the  spirit  that  prompted  this  memorial,  and  pervades 
this  assembly.  But  in  what  esteem  the  South  holds  the  name 
and  fame  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  of  national  interest.  All 
present  should  with  sincere  solemnity  unite  in  honoring  him, 
who  is  and  always  will  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  world's 
immortals,  and  there  should  be  no  note  of  discord  in  the 
grand  diapason  which  swells  up  from  a  grateful  people  in 
this  Centennial  Celebration.  I  would  have  stayed  away,  if  I 
could  not  heartily  respond  to  the  spirit  of  the  occasion;  and 
would  not  speak  in  the  representative  character  implied  by  an 
introduction  as  a  '  *  Voice  from  the  South, ' '  if  I  did  not  believe 
that  what  I  will  say  is  a  true  reflection  of  the  feelings  and 
judgment  of  those  who  have  the  best  right  to  be  regarded  as 
sponsors  for  the  South.  I  recall  as  vividly  as  if  it  were  to-day, 
when,  in  1860,  a  messenger,  with  passionate  excitement,  dashed 
up  to  our  school  in  Mississippi,  the  State  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  proclaimed  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected.  The 
Brides  of  Enderby  did  not  ring  out  in  more  dismal  tones,  or 
carry  a  greater  shock  to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  We  had 
passed  through  a  political  campaign  unsurpassed  in  bitterness. 
The  true  Lincoln  had  not  been  fully  revealed,  and  had  been 
transformed  in  the  South — as  the  great  protagonist  of  the 
South  was  transformed  in  the  North — by  the  heat  of  the 
fiercest  controversy  that  our  country  had  ever  experienced. 

In  the  youthful  imagination  stirred  to  its  highest  pitch  by 
the  explosive  sentiment  of  the  times,  without  the  corrective  of 
mature  judgment,  Lincoln's  name  was  invested  with  such, 
terrors  as  the  Chimaera  inspired  in  the  children  of  Lycia.  A 

148 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  149 

wave  of  emotions,  feelings  of  indignation,  commingled  with  a 
vague  sense  of  impending  evil,  swept  over  us.  Our  souls  mir 
rored  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  its  environment.  From  that 
day  to  the  surrender  at  Appomattox,  we  would  not  have 
regretted  the  death  of  Lincoln  any  more  than  did  the  people 
of  the  North  the  fall  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  The  War  was 
protracted.  There  was  time  for  revision  of  impressions. 
Sorrow  in  Protean  forms,  that  pervaded  every  household,  and, 
like  the  croaking  raven,  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  more  de 
part,  attuned  their  souls  to  an  appreciation  that  those  in  the 
high  tide  of  happiness  and  prosperity  can  never  fully  have,  of 
facts  that  revealed  a  gentle  spirit  and  a  heart  that  was  wom 
anly  in  its  tenderness,  and  in  its  sympathies  commensurate 
with  human  suffering.  Amid  the  paeans  of  victory,  sorrows 
over  defeat,  the  times  of  hope,  the  periods  of  despair,  con 
gratulations  to  the  victorious  living,  dirges  for  the  dead;  in 
the  gloomy  intervals,  all  too  short,  when  they  were  not  sus 
tained  by  the  excitement  of  battle,  there  drifted  in  stories  of 
generous  acts,  soft  words,  and  brotherly  sentiments  from  him 
whom  they  had  regarded  as  their  most  implacable  enemy. 
They  came  to  know  that  his  heart  was  a  stranger  to  hatred, 
that  he  was  willing  to  efface  himself  if  his  country  might  be 
exalted,  and  that  his  love  for  the  Union  surpassed  all  other 
considerations. 

They  were  profoundly  impressed,  when,  at  his  Second  Inau 
gural — a  time  when  it  was  apparent  that  the  Confederacy  was 
doomed — he  said: 

"With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in 
the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish 
the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and  his  orphan — 
to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace 
among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

With  this  favorable  condition  for  responsive  sentiment,  the 
scene  changed.  Appomattox  came,  and  then  in  quick  sequence 
a  total  surrender.  A  civilization  which  developed  some  qual 
ities  of  splendor  and  worth  never  surpassed — a  civilization 
allied  with  an  institution  which  all  other  Christian  countries 


150  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

had  freed  themselves  of,  and  subsequently  condemned,  but 
which  the  South,  with  its  conditions  and  environments,  could 
not  at  once,  without  precipitating  an  immeasurable  catas 
trophe,  abolish — fell  into  financial,  social,  and  political  ruin 
as  complete  as  that  which  overwhelmed  the  people  of  Messina. 

The  world  did  not  spontaneously  comfort  them  with  tender 
words  and  overwhelm  them  with  generous  aid.  Foreign  na 
tions  dared  not  offend  the  triumphant  flag.  Potential  voices 
at  the  North  rang  out  fiercely  for  a  bloody  assize.  Then  it 
was  that  the  great  patriot,  undazzled  by  success,  untouched  by 
the  spirit  of  revenge,  moved  by  generous  sympathies,  with  the 
eye  of  a  seer,  looked  beyond  the  passions  of  the  times,  saw 
the  surest  way  for  consolidating  this  people  into  a  Union  of 
hearts  as  well  as  of  States,  and,  stretching  out  his  command 
ing  arm  over  the  turbulent  waters,  said,  " Peace,  be  still." 

The  magnanimous  terms  granted  to  their  surrendered  soldiers 
convinced  the  Southern  people  that  Lincoln,  having  accom 
plished  by  force  of  arms  the  great  work  of  saving  the  union 
of  the  States,  would  consecrate  himself  with  equal  devotion 
to  the  no  less  arduous  and  important  work,  for  the  endurance 
of  our  national  life,  of  rehabilitating  the  seceding  States,  re 
storing  to  effective  citizenship  those  who  had  sought  to  estab 
lish  an  independent  government,  and  bringing  them  back  to 
the  allegiance  which  they  had  disavowed.  There  was  a  new 
estimate  by  the  Southern  people  of  his  character  and  motives. 
They  learned  that  he  was  not  inspired  by  personal  ambition, 
that  he  was  full  of  the  spirit  of  abnegation,  even  to  the  point 
of  self-abasement,  that  he  did  not  exult  over  them  in  victory, 
but  sorrowed  with  those  in  affliction,  that  his  heart  was  always 
responsive  to  distress,  his  soul  full  of  magnanimity,  and  that 
he  was  filled  with  a  patriotism  which  held  in  its  loving  em 
brace  our  entire  country.  With  this  new  aspect  in  which  he 
was  regarded  by  our  people,  I  well  remember  where  I  stood, 
and  the  consternation  that  filled  all  faces,  when  his  assassina 
tion  was  announced.  I  will  not  say  that  some  fierce  natures, 
that  some  of  the  thoughtless,  did  not  exult.  But,  as  a  witness 
of  the  times,  I  testify  that  there  was  general  manifestation 
of  sorrow  and  indignation.  I  would  not  convey  the  im- 


WAR     DEPARTMENT 

WASHINGTON 


Facsimile   of    Manuscript   Tribute    from    Hon.    John    M.    Dickinson, 
Secretary  of  War     (First  page) 


Facsimile   of   Manuscript   Tribute   from    Hon.   John   M.    Dickinson, 
Secretary  of  War    (Second  page) 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  151 

pression  that  it  was  an  exponent  of  such  feeling  for  Lincoln 
as  went  out  from  the  people  of  the  North.  That  would  have 
been  as  unnatural  at  that  time,  as  it  would  have  been  ignoble 
to  rejoice  over  his  suffering,  or  approve  the  dastardly  act  that 
laid  him  low.  It  came  partly  from  such  chivalric  spirit  as 
that  which  evoked  the  lament  of  Percy  over  the  fallen 
Douglas  at  Chevy  Chase.  It  came  also  from  a  realization  of 
their  own  condition — the  sense  of  an  impending  storm, 
charged  with  destructive  thunderbolts  forged  by  political 
hatred,  and  launched  by  those  who  would  humiliate  them, 
grind  their  very  faces  to  the  earth,  make  their  slaves  task 
masters  over  them,  and  if  possible  expatriate  them  and  divide 
their  substance — and  the  belief  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  who 
had  been  the  leader  in  the  fierce  contest  between  the  States, 
alone  so  held  the  affections  and  confidence  of  the  Northern 
people  that  he  could  speedily  "bind  up  the  nation's  wounds" 
and  ' '  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  our 
selves." 

Nearly  forty-four  years  have  passed  since  that  woeful  event. 
I  stood  on  Decoration  Day  by  the  monument  erected  in  Oak- 
woods  Cemetery — mainly  by  the  contributions  of  Northern 
people — to  the  memory  of  the  unknown  Confederate  soldiers 
who  yielded  up  their  lives  as  prisoners  of  war  at  Camp  Doug 
las,  and  saw  the  Illinois  soldiery  fire  over  those  who  fought 
for  the  Stars  and  Bars  the  same  salute  that  was  fired  over 
those  who  fought  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  "Within  a  short 
time  there  will  be  unveiled  on  the  capitol  grounds  at  Nashville, 
a  monument  to  Sam  Davis,  the  hero  boy  of  Tennessee,  who  was 
hung  as  a  rebel  spy.  General  G.  M.  Dodge,  who  ordered  his 
execution,  and  many  other  people  of  the  North,  were  foremost 
among  the  contributors.  The  voice  of  Wheeler  that  had  urged 
on  the  sons  of  the  South  in  a  hundred  battles  against  the 
Union,  rang  out  with  equal  devotion  while  leading  our  soldiers 
from  North  and  South  under  the  flag  of  our  common  country. 
In  the  same  uniform,  a  son  of  a  Grant,  and  a  son  of  a  Lee, 
ride  side  by  side.  Am  I  not  right,  here  in  the  North,  and  in 
this  assembly,  in  saying  that  the  American  people,  reunited 
— with  no  contest,  except  in  generous  rivalry  to  advance  their 


152  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

country's  welfare,  cherishing,  but  without  bitterness,  the 
proud  memories  of  their  conflict — have  long  since  realized 
the  prophecy  of  Lincoln  at  his  First  Inaugural  that : 

"The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad 
land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as 
surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

The  death  of  Lincoln  postponed  for  a  dreary  time  that 
happy  era.  How  much  humiliation,  sorrow,  wretchedness,  and 
hate,  what  an  Iliad  of  woes  to  white  and  black  came  through 
his  untimely  end,  no  tongue  or  pen  can  ever  portray. 

As  far  as  the  human  mind  can  estimate  and  compare  what 
was  with  what  might  have  been,  it  was  for  the  entire  nation, 
but  especially  for  the  South,  the  most  lamentable  tragedy  in 
history.  My  judgment,  based  upon  years  of  observation  and 
study,  is  that  it  was,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  more 
regretted  by  the  Southern  people  than  was  the  fall  of  the 
Confederacy. 

What  conflicts,  what  ingratitude,  what  disappointments  in 
his  great  purposes,  he  may  have  been  spared,  we  do  not  know. 
But  we  know  that  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  at  the  triumphant 
close  of  the  great  conflict  which  he  had  led,  he  was,  by  a 
tragedy  that  shocked  the  world,  caught  up  from  the  stage  of 
human  action  and  its  vicissitudes,  and  fixed  forever  as  one  of 
the  greatest  luminaries  in  that  galaxy  of  illustrious  men  who 
will  shine  throughout  the  ages. 

He  passed  out  of  view  like  tropic  sun  that — 

"With  disc  like  battle  target  red 
Rushes  to  his  burning  bed, 
Dyes  the  wide  wave  with  ruddy  light, 
Then  sinks  at  once  and  all  is  night." 

Southern-born — with  mind,  heart,  and  soul  loyal  to  its  tra 
ditions,  believing  that  the  South  was  within  its  constitutional 
rights  as  the  Constitution  then  stood,  that  her  leaders  were 
patriotic,  that  her  people  showed  a  devotion  to  principles 
without  a  touch  of  sordidness,  that  such  action  as  theirs  could 
only  come  from  a  deep  conviction  that  counted  not  the  cost 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  158 

of  sacrifice,  cherishing  as  a  glorious  legacy  the  renown  of  her 
armies  and  leaders,  whose  purity  of  life  and  heroism  were 
unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  people  at  any  one  time — yet  I 
say  in  all  sincerity  and  without  reservation,  that  I  rejoice  as 
much  as  any  of  you  that  our  country  produced  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  who  will,  as  long  as  great  intellect,  patriotism,  sincerity, 
self-denial,  magnanimity,  leadership,  heroism,  and  those 
graces  of  the  mind  and  heart  which  reflect  the  gentle  spirit 
are  cherished,  shed  lustre,  not  only  upon  his  countrymen, 
but  upon  all  humanity. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AT  THE  BAR  OF  ILLINOIS 

JOHN   T.   RICHARDS 

OF  the  early  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  shall  not  speak. 
His  life  in  Kentucky  and  Indiana — his  emigration  to 
Illinois,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years — his  settlement  at  New 
Salem,  his  mercantile  ventures  there,  his  first  candidacy  for 
the  Legislature,  in  which,  as  he  said  in  later  years,  he  met 
the  only  defeat  he  ever  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  people, 
are  matters  of  history,  with  which  all  are  familiar.  He  had 
passed  through  all  these  experiences  before  the  end  of  the 
year  1834.  He  was  then  but  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and 
had,  within  five  years  after  his  arrival  in  Illinois,  been  suc 
cessively  a  farm-hand,  laborer,  clerk,  and  store-keeper.  In 
1834,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  re- 
elected  for  the  three  succeeding  terms — his  last  election  being 
in  the  year  1840.  During  the  time  of  his  servi6e  in  the 
Legislature,  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  Illinois,  March  1,  1837,  being  at  that  time 
twenty-eight  years  of  age. 

At  the  time  of  Lincoln's  admission  to  the  bar,  the  rules  of 
the  Supreme  Court  did  not  require  the  applicant  to  submit 
to  an  examination  as  to  his  qualifications.  The  only  require 
ments  of  the  statute  then  in  force,  and  which  went  into  effect 
March  1,  1833,  were  that  before  he  could  be  permitted  to 
practice  as  an  attorney  or  counsellor-at-law,  he  must  have 
obtained  a  license  for  that  purpose  from  some  two  of  the 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  he  should  not  be 
entitled  to  receive  such  license  until  he  had  obtained  a  certifi 
cate  from  the  Court  of  some  County,  of  his  good  moral 
character. 

Having  obtained  a  license  from  two  of  the  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  he  was  required  to  take  an  oath  to  support 

154 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  155 

the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  this  State.  The 
person  who  administered  the  oath  was  required  to  certify 
the  same  on  the  license,  and  on  presentation  of  the  license 
in  this  form  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  latter 
was  required  to  enroll  the  name  of  the  applicant  as  an  attor 
ney  or  counsellor. 

The  required  oath  of  office  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
Legislature  contemplated  two  classes  in  the  profession,  (1) 
attorneys;  (2)  counsellors;  for  the  oath  reads,  "I  will  in  all 
things  faithfully  execute  the  duties  of  an  attorney-at-law  or 
counsellor-at-law  (as  the  case  may  be)/'  etc. 

The  first  rule  of  Court  relating  to  admission  to  the  bar, 
was  adopted  March  1,  1841,  and  required  all  applicants  for 
a  license  to  practise  law,  to  present  themselves  in  person  for 
examination  in  open  court,  except  in  cases  where  the  appli 
cant  had  been  regularly  admitted  to  the  bar  in  some  Court 
of  Record  within  the  United  States.  The  Court  was  at  that 
time  composed  of  nine  judges,  who  were  required  to  perform 
circuit  duties  also.  The  State  was  divided  into  nine  Judicial 
Circuits,  one  of  the  Judges  presiding  over  each  of  the  Circuit 
Courts;  and  all  met  together  as  a  Supreme  Court,  and  each 
was  afforded  an  opportunity  to  review  orders  and  decrees 
of  the  other  members  of  the  Court. 

The  proceedings  in  all  the  Courts  were  much  less  dignified 
and  formal  than  they  are  in  this  generation.  The  judges 
and  the  lawyers  met  on  the  Circuit  as  friends,  upon  a  common 
level,  and  as  there  were  no  places  of  amusement  where  the 
long  evenings  could  be  spent,  they  gathered  about  a  common 
fireside  at  the  country  tavern  and  regaled  each  other  with 
anecdotes  and  songs.  The  judge  who  heard  their  cases  threw 
aside  judicial  dignity,  when  evening  came,  and  joined  with 
his  professional  brethren  in  the  merrymaking.  Life  upon  the 
Circuit  in  those  days,  as  in  every  new  community,  had  its 
sunshine  and  its  shadows,  but  every  hardship  had  its  compen 
sation  in  the  goodfellowship,  which  always  prevailed  among 
those  sturdy  pioneers. 

The  experiences  of  Lincoln  upon  the  Circuit  were  not  un 
like  those  of  other  lawyers  of  that  day.  There  was  little 


156  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

that  required  great  skill  or  much  learning  in  the  law.  The 
interests  involved  were  for  the  most  part  trivial,  measured  by 
a  monetary  standard — but  they  involved  the  same  questions 
of  right  and  justice  which  invite  our  professional  attention 
in  these  latter  days. 

In  the  nisi  prius  Courts,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  called  upon 
to  try  cases  of  every  class,  both  civil  and  criminal,  and  he 
entered  upon  the  trial  of  cases  involving  but  a  few  dollars 
with  as  much  zeal  as  those  involving  thousands ;  but  no  crim 
inal  case  in  which  Lincoln  appeared  as  an  attorney  is  to  be 
found  in  the  reports  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Illinois.  Whether  this  fact  is  due  to  his  great  ability  as 
an  advocate  before  a  jury  or  to  some  other  cause,  I  am  unable 
to  state,  but,  as  his  contemporaries  inform  us  that  he  tried 
very  many  criminal  cases,  none  of  which  appear  in  the  State 
Reports,  it  seems  safe  to  assume  that  his  clients  in  such  cases 
were  acquitted  by  the  jury. 

Some  of  Lincoln's  biographers  have  sought  to  make  it  ap 
pear  that  Lincoln  refused  to  take  advantage  of  a  so-called 
technicality  in  order  to  win  his  case.  This  view  is  not  borne 
out  by  the  record,  for — while  he  possessed  many  attributes 
which  all  admit  are  above  and  beyond  those  possessed  by 
ordinary  mortals — as  a  lawyer  he  seems  to  have  been  no  less 
human  than  other  members  of  the  profession,  and  while  it 
may  be  truthfully  said  that  he  took  no  mean  advantage  of 
his  professional  brethren,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  press  upon 
the  attention  of  the  Court  any  legitimate  advantage  which 
the  record  of  the  case  might  furnish. 

The  first  case  in  connection  with  which  his  name  appears 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  furnishes  evidence  of  this,  being  the 
case  of  J.  Y.  Scammon — afterwards  Supreme  Court  Reporter 
— plaintiff  in  error  vs.  Cornelius  Cline.  Scammon  had 
brought  the  suit  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Boone 
County,  and  the  Justice  having  rendered  judgment  in  favor 
of  the  defendant,  Scammon  appealed  to  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Boone  County.  At  the  time  the  appeal  from  the  Justice  was 
perfected,  Boone  County  was  still  a  part  of  Jo  Daviess 
County,  for  judicial  purposes,  and  no  Court  having  been 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  157 

appointed  to  be  held  in  Boone  County,  it  was  contended  by 
the  defendant's  counsel  that  the  appeal  should  have  been 
taken  to  Jo  Daviess  County.  The  defendant's  motion  to 
dismiss  the  appeal  presented  to  the  Circuit  Court  of  Boone 
County  at  its  first  term,  was  sustained,  and  the  case  was 
taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  on  error,  Lincoln  appearing  for 
defendant  in  error,  and  resulted  in  a  reversal  of  the  decision 
of  the  Circuit  Court. 

Another  case  which  was  decided  upon  a  technical  point 
raised  by  Lincoln,  was  the  case  of  Maus  vs.  Whitney,  which 
was  an  appeal  from  the  Circuit  Court  of  Tazewell  County. 
Lincoln  represented  the  appellee  and  moved  the  Court  to  dis 
miss  the  appeal  on  the  technical  ground  that  the  bond  was 
signed  on  behalf  of  the  surety  by  his  agent,  whose  authority, 
while  in  writing,  was  not  under  seal,  and  the  motion  was 
sustained.  From  this  decision  Justice  Breese  dissented  in 
a  short  but  very  vigorous  Opinion  in  which  he  took  occasion 
to  say  that  he  could  not  yield  up  his  judgment  in  any  case 
because  others  had  decided  a  point  in  a  particular  manner 
unless  he  could  see  the  reason  of  the  decision;  that  he  could 
see  none  in  that  case;  and,  believing  as  he  did  that  the  pur 
poses  of  justice  "are  not  at  all  subserved  by  an  adherence 
to  such  antiquated  rules  and  unmeaning  technicalities,'*  he 
refused  to  concur  with  the  majority  of  the  Court,  and  then 
proceeded  to  say  that  several  of  his  brother  judges  coincided 
in  the  views  which  he  expressed,  but  believing  the  rule  laid 
down  in  the  majority  opinion  to  be  the  law,  they  considered 
themselves  bound  by  it,  notwithstanding  its  unreasonableness. 
He,  however,  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  the  alleged  reason 
is  absurd,  it  should  not  bind  the  Court. 

It  is  possible  that  Lincoln  may  have  appeared  as  counsel 
in  some  case  prior  to  his  appearance  in  the  case  of  Scammon 
vs.  Cline  already  referred  to,  as  the  reporter  in  the  preface 
in  the  first  volume  of  Scammon's  Reports  says,  ''that  the 
practice  of  the  Court,  which  required  an  abstract  to  be  filed 
by  counsel  for  appellant  or  plaintiff  in  error,  while  none  was 
required  of  appellee  or  defendant  in  error,  had  the  effect  to 
cause  a  brief  to  be  filed  by  the  former,  while  the  counsel  for 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  latter  usually  contented  themselves  with  making  their 
points  and  citing  their  authorities  on  the  hearing."  The  re 
porter  complains  also  of  the  neglect  of  counsel  in  many  cases 
to  sign  their  names  to  their  abstracts  and  declares  that  on 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  docket  was  kept  it  was 
difficult  to  ascertain  with  precision  who  appeared  as  counsel. 

The  case  of  Scammon  vs.  Cline  was  decided  at  the  December 
Term,  1840.  Lincoln  had  been  a  member  of  the  bar  at  that 
time  about  three  years,  and  was  then  thirty-one  years  of  age. 

The  case  of  Bailey  vs.  Cromwell,  reported  in  the  third  of 
Scammon,  in  which  Lincoln  appeared  for  the  appellant,  is  of 
peculiar  interest  to  us.  It  was  decided  at  the  July  Term, 
1841.  The  case  was  an  action  of  assumpsit  on  a  promissory 
note  and  was  tried  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Tazewell  County, 
where  Lincoln  represented  the  defendant.  Lincoln  had 
pleaded  the  general  issue,  and  filed  among  other  special 
pleas,  a  plea  of  total  failure  of  consideration,  in  which 
he  set  out  that  the  note  was  given  for  the  purchase  of 
a  negro  girl,  sold  by  Cromwell  to  Bailey  and  who  was 
represented  to  Bailey  at  the  time  of  the  purchase,  to  be  a 
slave  and  servant,  when  in  fact  she  was  free;  that  Cromwell 
agreed  to  furnish  Bailey  with  proof  that  the  girl  was  a  slave, 
which  he  had  failed  to  do,  and  that,  therefore,  the  considera 
tion  had  wholly  failed.  A  finding  and  judgment  was  ren 
dered  in  the  Circuit  Court,  for  four  hundred,  thirty-one  dol 
lars,  ninety- seven  cents  on  the  note,  which  was  reversed  by 
the  Supreme  Court,  where  it  was  held  that  the  defendant, 
having  shown  that  the  girl  was  the  consideration  for  the  note, 
and  the  presumption  of  law  being  that  she  was  free,  and  the 
sale  of  a  free  person  being  illegal,  in  the  absence  of  proof 
to  rebut  the  presumption  that  she  was  free,  there  was  no  valid 
consideration  for  the  note. 

All  the  sessions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  beginning  with  the 
July  Term,  1839,  to  and  including  the  December  Term,  1847, 
were  held  at  Springfield. 

The  organization  of  the  Court  was  changed  by  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  1848,  the  State  being  divided  into  three 
divisions,  in  each  of  which  a  term  of  Court  was  required  to 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  159 

be  held  annually,  and  the  Court  thereafter  consisted  of  three 
Judges  elected  by  the  people,  one  from  each  Division,  who 
were  not  required  to  perform  Circuit  duty.  The  first  Supreme 
Court  Judges  elected  under  the  Constitution  of  1848,  were 
Samuel  H.  Treat,  John  D.  Caton,  and  Lyman  Trumbull,  and 
the  first  cases  decided  by  the  Court,  as  thus  constituted,  ap 
pear  in  the  fifth  of  Oilman's  Reports.  The  ninth  and  tenth 
volume  of  the  Reports,  contain  no  cases  in  which  the  name  of 
Lincoln  appears  as  counsel.  This  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact 
that  during  the  two  years,  1847  and  1848,  he  was  a  member 
of  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  for  his  name  ap 
pears  as  Counsel  in  seventeen  cases  in  Volume  8  of  the 
Reports,  in  six  cases  in  Volume  11  of  the  Reports,  and  in 
thirteen  cases  in  the  twelfth  Volume.  Again,  Volume  20  of 
the  Reports  contains  no  case  in  which  Lincoln  appears  as 
counsel.  The  Volume  contains  opinions  in  cases  submitted 
in  1858,  which  was  the  year  of  the  great  debate  with  Douglas. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  whatever  Lincoln  under 
took  received  his  undivided  attention. 

It  is  said  by  some  of  Lincoln's  associates  at  the  bar,  that 
he  was  not  well  grounded  in  the  principles  of  the  law,  and 
that  he  was  not  a  well-read  lawyer,  but  all  admit  that  he 
possessed  a  logical  mind.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  he  was  not 
what  is  called  a  "case  lawyer."  He  did  not  rely  wholly  upon 
precedent.  To  him  the  law  was  indeed  the  perfection  of 
reason  and  he  cited  few  authorities  in  support  of  his  views, 
but  depended  upon  the  presentation  of  the  reasons  for  the  rule 
for  which  he  contended.  His  strong  common  sense  enabled 
him  to  see  what  the  law  ought  to  be,  and  with  all  the  force 
of  his  great  mind,  he  endeavored,  with  invincible  logic,  to  win 
the  Court  to  his  view  of  the  law,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
fact  that  in  many  cases  the  Court  found  itself  hampered  by 
precedents,  the  record  of  his  successes  would  have  been  greater 
still.  The  only  branch  of  the  law  which  seems  to  have  escaped 
the  activities  of  Lincoln,  in  the  Supreme  Court,  is  the 
criminal  law.  There  is  no  record  of  any  case  involving  a 
felony  in  which  Lincoln  appeared  as  counsel  in  that  Court, 
but  in  every  other  branch  of  the  law  he  was  active,  and  there 


160  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

seems  to  have  been  no  form  of  procedure  witH  which  he  was 
not  familiar;  in  applications  for  writs  of  mandamus  and 
quo  warranto,  he  frequently  appeared;  in  chancery  proceed 
ings,  as  well  as  the  ordinary  cases  at  common  law,  and  cases 
involving  the  election  laws  and  revenue  laws  of  the  State, 
he  was  equally  at  home. 

In  his  career  at  the  bar,  he  crossed  swords  in  the  arena  of 
his  profession  with  the  greatest  lawyers  of  his  time,  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  O.  H.  Browning, 
Leonard  Swett,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Edward  D.  Baker,  Elihu 
B.  Washburne,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  J.  T.  Stuart,  Burton  C. 
Cook,  James  A.  McDougall — afterwards  a  U.  S.  Senator  from 
California — Lyman  Trumbull,  B.  S.  Edwards,  Isaac  G.  Wil 
son,  U.  F.  Linder,  Thomas  Campbell,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  and 
many  others  whose  names  are  impressed  upon  the  jurispru 
dence  of  the  State,  and  with  all  of  whom  he  held  the  most 
cordial  relations. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  between  the  years  1837  and  1861,  the  State  of  Illinois 
was  chiefly  an  agricultural  country.  There  were  then  no 
great  commercial  or  manufacturing  interests  to  call  into  play 
the  talents  of  the  skilful  lawyer,  and  the  value  of  the  prop 
erty  or  rights  involved  by  comparison  with  the  matters 
requiring  the  attention  of  the  Courts  at  the  present  time,  sink 
into  insignificance,  and  yet  Lincoln  and  other  men  who  trav 
elled  the  Circuit  in  those  days,  laid  for  us  the  foundation  of 
the  system  of  jurisprudence,  which  is  the  common  law  of 
Illinois  to-day. 

While  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  did  not  pursue  his  law 
studies  under  the  guidance  of  an  instructor,  it  is  nevertheless 
true  that  Lincoln  was  self  taught,  and  his  comprehensive  mind 
grasped  the  principles  of  the  law  as  fully  as  if  he  had  sat  at 
the  feet  of  the  most  learned  of  the  profession.  He  read  thor 
oughly  the  standard  works  of  his  time,  upon  every  branch  of 
jurisprudence.  While  in  attendance  upon  the  courts,  he  lis 
tened  to  the  arguments  of  others  learned  in  the  law,  and  the 
crumbs  of  legal  knowledge  gleaned  in  this  manner,  found 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  161 

lodgment  in  his  fertile  mind,  to  be  used  by  him  when  occasion 
required. 

Lincoln  appeared  alone  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  sixty- three 
cases;  of  these,  the  decision  was  in  his  favor  in  thirty-eight 
cases,  and  he  was  defeated  in  twenty-five. 

He  appeared  as  an  associate  counsel  in  the  Supreme  Court 
in  one  hundred  and  ten  other  cases,  in  which  the  parties  rep 
resented  by  him  were  successful  in  sixty-seven,  and  were  de 
feated  in  forty-three  cases.  What  lawyer  of  this  generation 
can  show  a  greater  record  of  successes  ? 

His  entire  career  at  the  bar  covers  a  period  of  only  twenty- 
four  years,  during  three  years  of  which  we  have  seen,  he  was 
not  engaged  actively  in  the  practice,  and  yet  during  that  time 
he  appeared  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  cases;  of  these,  the  cases  of  Miller  vs.  Whitaker,  and 
Young  vs.  Miller,  were  consolidated  on  the  hearing  and  one 
opinion  covers  both  cases  (23  111.,  453),  the  same  is  true  of  the 
cases  of  Columbus  Machine  Manufacturing  Co.  vs.  Dorwin,  and 
the  same  vs.  Ulrich  (25  111.,  153) ;  also  Rose  vs.  Irving  and 
Pryor  vs.  Irving  (14  111.,  171)  ;  also  two  cases  of  Myers  vs. 
Turner  (17  111.,  179)  and  also  the  cases  of  Moor  vs.  Vail,  and 
Moore  vs.  Dodd  (17  111.,  185). 

A  review  of  Lincoln's  cases  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illi 
nois  added  to  an  examination  of  his  State  papers  and  the 
debate  with  Douglas,  will  convince  the  most  skeptical  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  his  time. 

Lincoln  often  appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illi 
nois  while  Judges  Caton  and  Breese  were  members  of  the 
Court,  and  they  had  ample  opportunity  to  judge  of  his  stand 
ing  as  a  lawyer,  for  cases  were  argued  orally  at  that  time 
more  frequently  than  at  the  present;  the  estimate  of  these 
men  as  to  his  standing  and  ability  is  therefore  of  great  value. 

'Judge  Caton  said  of  him,  ' '  The  most  punctilious  honor  ever 
marked  his  professional  life.  His  frankness  and  candor  were 
two  great  elements  in  his  character,  which  contributed  to  his 
professional  success.  If  he  discovered  a  weak  point  in  his 
cause,  he  frankly  admitted  it,  and  thereby  prepared  the  mind 


162  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  accept  the  more  readily  his  mode  of  avoiding  it.  He  was 
equally  potent  before  the  jury  as  with  the  Court."  Judge 
Breese  said  of  him,  "Mr.  Lincoln  was  never  found  deficient 
in  all  the  knowledge  requisite  to  present  the  strong  points  of 
his  case  to  the  best  advantage,  and  by  his  searching  analysis 
make  clear  the  most  intricate  controversy.  There  was  that 
within  him,  glowing  in  his  mind,  which  enabled  him  to  im 
press  with  the  force  of  his  logic,  his  own  clear  perception 
upon  the  minds  of  those  he  sought  to  influence. ' ' 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  declared  that  Lincoln  had  no  equal 
as  an  advocate  in  the  trial  of  a  case  before  a  jury.  Leonard 
Swett,  who  knew  him  as  well,  if  not  better,  than  any  other 
of  his  associates  on  the  Circuit,  has  said  that  if  Lincoln  ever 
had  a  superior  before  a  jury — and  the  more  intelligent  the 
jury  the  better  he  was  pleased — he,  Swett,  never  knew  him. 
Mr.  Swett  went  further  and  declared  that  in  his  younger  days, 
he  had  listened  to  Tom  Corwin,  Rufus  Choate,  and  many 
others  of  equal  standing  at  the  bar  in  the  trial  of  cases,  but 
that  Lincoln  at  his  best,  was  more  sincere  and  impressive  than 
any  of  them,  and  that  what  Lincoln  could  not  accomplish  with 
a  jury  no  man  need  try.  Judge  David  Davis — afterwards 
appointed  by  President  Lincoln  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  who  was  the  presiding  judge 
in  the  old  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit  of  Illinois  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  while  Lincoln  travelled  that  Circuit 
from  County  to  County,  trying  cases — continually  said  that, 
"in  all  the  elements  that  constitute  the  great  lawyer,  he  had 
few  equals.  He  was  great  both,  at  nisi  prius  and  before  an 
appellate  tribunal." 

Thomas  Drummond,  than  whom  no  greater  trial  judge  ever 
sat  upon  the  bench,  declared  Lincoln  to  be  one  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  he  had  ever  known.  The  testimony  of  these  distin 
guished  men  is  convincing,  and  with  the  record  of  his  pro 
fessional  career  in  Illinois,  to  which  might  be  added  a 
creditable  though  not  very  extended  practice  in  the  Federal 
Courts,  should  set  at  rest  forever  the  statement  sometimes 
made  that  Lincoln's  standing  as  a  lawyer  was  not  of  a  high 
order— for  in  all  which  constitutes  the  really  great  lawyer,  he 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  168 

stood  in  the  front  rank  of  the  profession  at  a  time  when 
many  men  of  renown  battled  for  supremacy  at  the  bar;  and 
he  who  by  common  consent  was  classed  as  the  equal,  if  not 
the  superior  of  Leonard  Swett,  and  the  other  distinguished 
lawyers  whom  I  have  named,  must  be  given  high  place  among 
the  leaders  of  the  bar  of  our  State. 

Had  it  not  been  that  his  great  abilities  were  demanded  by 
the  Republic,  in  the  turbulent  times  following  1857,  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
lawyer,  would  have  been  known  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

His  whole  career  shows  that  failure  was  a  word  unknown 
to  his  vocabulary;  and  prior  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  he  was  making  most  wonderful  progress  in  his 
professional  career;  but  when  his  country  demanded  his 
services  in  that  trying  hour,  when  he  saw  that  the  iron  heel 
of  the  slave  power  of  the  South  was  about  to  be  planted  upon 
the  free  soil  of  the  nation,  he  left  to  others  the  pursuit  of 
the  calling  of  his  choice  at  a  time  when  that  calling  seemed 
more  than  ever  inviting,  and  when  greater  professional  re 
nown  was  easily  within  his  grasp,  to  become  more  than  ever 
before,  an  advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  people  against  an 
aristocracy  founded  upon  human  slavery. 

What  followed  is  a  matter  of  familiar  history.  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  lawyer  of  Illinois,  became  the  great  restorer  of 
the  Union  of  the  States,  and  the  work  of  the  lawyer  was  over 
shadowed  by  the  greater  labors  and  accomplishments  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  the  emancipator  of  a  race,  and  the  saviour  of 
his  country.  Had  he  lived  to  witness  the  realization  of  the 
vision  which  he  saw  and  so  beautifully  expressed  in  his  First 
Inaugural  Address,  when  "The  mystic  chords  of  memory, 
stretching  from  every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every 
living  heart  and  hearthstone,  all  over  this  broad  land,  will 
yet  swell  the  Chorus  of  the  Union,  when  touched  again,  as  they 
surely  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature,"  Abraham 
Lincoln  would  have  proven  himself  to  be  the  greatest  consti 
tutional  lawyer  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  many  of  the 
mistakes  and  horrors  of  the  reconstruction  period,  I  firmly 


164»  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

believe,  would  have  been  unknown  to  our  country's  history. 
He  would  have  proceeded  "with  malice  toward  none,  but 
charity  for  all,"  to  "bind  up  the  nation's  wounds";  and  by 
constitutional  government  many  of  the  conflicts  which  have 
left  a  blot  upon  the  escutcheon  of  our  national  honor,  would 
have  been  avoided  and  jewels  of  still  greater  brilliancy  would 
have  been  thereby  placed  upon  the  brow  of  the  greatest  ruler 
of  modern  times,  if  not  the  greatest  of  the  ages. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS 

HON.   JOHN   C.   RICHBEEG 

FROM  Abraham  Lincoln's  entrance  into  public  life  to  his 
sacrificial  exit  was  probably  the  stormiest  period  of  the 
Republic,  during  all  of  which  time  the  slavery  question  was 
uppermost.  But  underlying  this  controversy  lay  the  great 
question  of  State's  rights,  the  extremists  insisting  that  the 
Union  was  a  mere  confederacy  of  States,  that  the  States  were 
absolutely  sovereign  and  any  State  had  a  right  to  withdraw 
from  the  Union  at  any  time  its  people  saw  fit  so  to  do.  Lin 
coln  was  opposed  both  to  slavery  and  the  doctrine  of  State's 
rights,  as  enunciated,  believing  in  an  inseparable  and  inde 
structible  Union;  and  it  may  be  interesting  to  trace  the 
gradual  growth  and  strengthening  of  his  belief  which  cul 
minated  in  that  mighty  appeal  to  the  spirit  of  nationality 
known  as  the  Gettysburg  Address. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  Lincoln  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  Legislature  for  four  successive  terms  and 
entered  upon  the  scene  of  national  politics  in  1847,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-eight,  as  a  member  of  Congress.  Although  a 
new  member,  he  was  not  a  silent  member,  and  took  part  in 
the  debates  affecting  the  leading  questions  of  the  day.  He 
had  been  practising  law  for  some  ten  years,  and  his  speeches 
in  Congress,  especially  the  one  against  granting  appropria 
tions  for  internal  improvements  on  constitutional  grounds, 
showed  that  he  had  studied  the  works  of  Kent  and  Storey  and 
the  leading  cases  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
notably  those  delivered  by  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  He 
had  taken  an  active  part  in  politics  during  the  administration 
of  Andrew  Jackson  and  especially  in  the  great  controversy 
then  raging  with  reference  to  the  Charter  of  the  United  States 
Bank.  That  Charter  had  been  upheld  in  1819  by  the  Supreme 

165 


166  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  opinion  delivered  by  Chief 
Justice  Marshall  in  the  celebrated  case  of  M'Culloeh  v.  State 
of  Maryland.  The  question  involved  as  to  whether  Congress 
had  power  to  incorporate  a  bank,  and  the  holding  of  the  Court 
that  the  government  of  the  Union  is  supreme  within  its  sphere 
of  action,  and  that  its  laws,  when  made  in  pursuance  of  the 
Constitution,  are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  are  of  course 
familiar  to  all  here  present. 

Lincoln  said,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Congress,  July  27, 
1848: 

"When  the  bill  chartering  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States  passed 
Congress,  its  constitutionality  was  questioned.  Mr.  Madison,  then  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  as  well  as  others,  had  opposed  it  on 
that  ground.  Gen.  Washington,  as  President,  was  called  on  to  ap 
prove  or  reject  it.  He  sought  and  obtained,  on  the  constitutional 
question,  the  separate  written  opinions  of  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  Ed 
mund  Randolph,  they  then  being  respectively  Secretary  of  State,  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  and  Attorney-General.  Hamilton's  opinion  was 
for  the  power;  while  Randolph's  and  Jefferson's  were  both  against  it." 

In  a  reply  to  Douglas,  delivered  at  Springfield,  Illi 
nois,  June  26,  1857,  he  again  showed  how  familiar  he  was 
with  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
wherein  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  Act  estab 
lishing  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  involved ;  that  he 
had  not  only  read,  but  studied  that  decision.  He  said : 

"Why,  this  same  Supreme  Court  once  decided  a  national  bank  to  be 
constitutional;  but  General  Jackson,  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
disregarded  the  decision,  and  vetoed  a  bill  for  a  re-charter,  partly  on 
constitutional  grounds,  declaring  that  each  public  functionary  must 
support  the  Constitution,  'as  he  understands  it.'  But  hear  the  Gen 
eral's  own  words.  Here  they  are,  taken  from  his  veto  message: 

"  'It  is  maintained  by  the  advocates  of  the  Bank,  that  its  constitution 
ality,  in  all  its  features,  ought  to  be  considered  as  settled  by  prec 
edent,  and  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  To  this  conclusion 
I  cannot  assent.  Mere  precedent  is  a  dangerous  source  of  authority, 
and  should  not  be  regarded  as  deciding  questions  of  constitutional 
power,  except  where  the  acquiescence  of  the  people  and  the  States 
can  be  considered  as  well  settled.  So  far  from  this  being  the  case  on 
this  subject,  an  argument  against  the  bank  might  be  based  on  prec 
edent.  Ona  Congress,  in  1791,  decided  in  favor  of  a  bank;  another, 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  167 

in  1811,  decided  against  it.  One  Congress,  in  1815,  decided  against  a 
bank;  another,  in  1816,  decided  in  its  favor.  Prior  to  the  present 
Congress,  therefore,  the  precedents  drawn  from  that  source  were  equal. 
If  we  resort  to  the  States,  the  expressions  of  legislative,  judicial,  and 
executive  opinions  against  the  bank  have  been,  probably,  to  those  in 
its  favor  as  four  to  one.  There  is  nothing  in  precedent,  therefore, 
which,  if  its  authority  were  admitted,  ought  to  weigh  in  favor  of  the 
act  before  me.' 

"I  drop  the  quotations  merely  to  remark,  that  all  there  ever  was, 
in  the  way  of  precedent,  up  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  on  the  points 
therein  decided,  had  been  against  that  decision.  .  .  . 

"Again  and  again  have  I  heard  Judge  Douglas  denounce  that  bank 
decision,  and  applaud  General  Jackson  for  disregarding  it.  It  would 
be  interesting  for  him  to  look  over  his  recent  speech  and  see  how 
exactly  his  fierce  philippics  against  us  for  resisting  the  Supreme 
Court  decisions,  fall  upon  his  own  head.  It  will  call  to  mind  a  long 
and  fierce  political  war  in  this  country,  upon  an  issue  which,  in  his 
own  language,  and,  of  course,  in  his  own  changeless  estimation,  was 
'a  distinct  issue  between  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of  the  Constitu 
tion/  and  in  which  war  he  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Constitution." 

It  is  evident  that  the  doctrine  of  national  unity  as  laid 
down  in  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  particularly  in  the  opinion  of  Marshall,  had  either 
awakened  or  found  a  responsive  chord  within  the  keen,  logical, 
lawyer's  mind  of  the  martyred  President.  How  early  this 
conviction  obtained  is  shown  in  a  lecture  delivered  at  the 
Springfield  Lyceum  in  1837,  where  Lincoln  said : 

"If  destruction  be  our  lot,  we  must  ourselves  be  its  author  and  fin 
isher.  As  a  nation  of  freemen,  we  must  live  through  all  time,  or  die 
by  suicide." 

At  Indianapolis,  on  his  way  to  the  Capital  in  1861,  refer 
ring  to  South  Carolinians,  he  said : 

"In  their  view,  the  Union  as  a  family  relation  would  seem  to  be 
no  regular  marriage,  but  rather  a  sort  of  'free-love*  arrangement,  to 
be  maintained  only  on  'passional  attraction.' " 

At  Trenton,  New  'Jersey : 

"I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  this  Union,  the  Constitution  and  the 
liberties  of  the  people  shall  be  perpetuated  in  accordance  with  the 
original  idea  for  which  that  struggle  [the  Revolution]  was  made." 


168  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

At  Philadelphia,  at  the  "Old  Independence  Hall/'  among 
other  things,  in  responding  to  an  address  of  welcome: 

"I  can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  enter 
tain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from 
the  sentiments  which  originated  in  and  were  given  to  the  world  from 
this  hall." 

In  his  First  Inaugural  Address,  he  said : 

"I  hold  that,  in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  the  Constitution, 
the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not 
expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  governments.  It  is 
§afe  to  assert  that  no  government  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its 
organic  law  for  its  own  termination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the  ex 
press  provisions  of  our  national  Constitution  and  the  Union  will  endure 
forever — it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it  except  by  some  action  not  pro 
vided  for  in  the  instrument  itself." 

On  August  22,  1862,  in  a  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  he  said : 

"My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  is 
not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  with 
out  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all 
the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and 
leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that." 

"What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  be 
lieve  it  helps  to  save  the  Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  be 
cause  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union." 

Since,  then,  the  national  spirit  shown  in  the  foregoing  quo 
tations  seems  to  have  been  founded  so  much  more  on  the  law 
yer's  view  of  the  Constitution  as  a  sacred  compact  that  the 
descendants  of  the  framers  must  fulfil,  rather  than  on  a  mere 
emotional  ideal,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  examine  the  language 
of  that  great  decision  in  M'Culloch  v.  Maryland,  referred  to 
before,  wherein  is  found  the  logic  and  reasoning  which,  har 
monizing  with  Lincoln's  fidelity  to  obligations  and  the  ideal 
ism  of  a  mighty  dreamer,  may  have  played  its  part  in  the 
evolution  of  the  Gettysburg  masterpiece. 

Beginning  with  page  403,  Volume  4,  Wheaton's  Reports, 
the  opinion  reads  as  follows : 

"The  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  was  indeed  elected 
by  the  State  Legislatures.  But  the  instrument,  when  it  came  from 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  169 

their  hands,  was  a  mere  proposal,  without  obligation,  or  pretensions 
to  it.  It  was  reported  to  the  then  existing  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  request  that  it  might  'be  submitted  to  a  Convention  of 
Delegates,  chosen  in  each  State  by  the  people  thereof,  under  the 
recommendation  of  its  Legislature,  for  their  assent  and  ratification.' 
This  mode  of  proceeding  was  adopted;  and  by  the  Convention,  by 
Congress,  and  by  the  State  Legislatures,  the  instrument  was  submitted 
to  the  people.  They  acted  upon  it  in  the  only  manner  in  which  they 
can  act  safely,  effectively,  and  wisely,  on  such  a  subject,  by  assembling 
in  Convention.  It  is  true,  they  assembled  in  their  several  States — 
and  where  else  should  they  have  assembled?  No  political  dreamer 
was  ever  wild  enough  to  think  of  breaking  down  the  lines  which 
separate  the  States,  and  of  compounding  the  American  people  into  one 
common  mass.  Of  consequence,  when  they  act,  they  act  in  their 
States.  But  the  measures  they  adopt  do  not,  on  that  account,  cease  to 
be  the  measures  of  the  people  themselves,  or  become  the  measures  of 
the  State  governments. 

"From  these  Conventions  the  Constitution  derives  its  whole  authority. 
The  government  proceeds  directly  from  the  people;  is  'ordained  and 
established*  in  the  name  of  the  people;  and  is  declared  to  be  ordained, 
'in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  ensure  domes 
tic  tranquillity,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  themselves  and 
to  their  posterity.'  The  assent  of  the  States,  in  their  sovereign  ca 
pacity,  is  implied  in  calling  a  Convention,  and  thus  submitting  that 
instrument  to  the  people.  But  the  people  were  at  perfect  liberty  to 
accept  or  reject  it;  and  their  act  was  final.  It  required  not  the  af 
firmance,  and  could  not  be  negatived,  by  the  State  governments.  The 
Constitution,  when  thus  adopted,  was  of  complete  obligation,  and 
bound  the  State  sovereignties.  But  when,  'in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  union,'  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  change  this  alliance  into 
an  effective  government,  possessing  great  and  sovereign  powers,  and 
acting  directly  on  the  people,  the  necessity  of  referring  it  to  the  peo 
ple,  and  of  deriving  its  powers  from  them,  was  felt  and  acknowledged 
by  all. 

"The  government  of  the  Union,  then  (whatever  may  be  the  in 
fluence  of  this  fact  on  the  case) ,  is,  emphatically,  and  truly,  a  govern 
ment  of  the  people.  In  form  and  in  substance  it  emanates  from  them. 
Its  powers  are  granted  by  them,  and  are  to  be  exercised  directly  on 
them,  and  for  their  benefit.  But  the  question  respecting  the  extent  of 
the  powers  actually  granted,  is  perpetually  arising,  and  will  probably 
continue  to  arise,  as  long  as  our  system  shall  exist." 

"If  any  one  proposition  could  command  the  universal  assent  of 
mankind,  we  might  expect  it  would  be  this — that  the  government  of 
the  Union,  though  limited  in  its  powers,  is  supreme  within  its  sphere 
of  action.  This  would  seem  to  result  necessarily  from  its  nature.  It 


170  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

is  the  government  of  all;  its  powers  are  delegated  by  all;  it  represents 
all,  and  acts  for  all." 

Such  was  the  opinion  of  the  greatest  nationalist  Judge, 
laying  down  the  law  of  what  should  ~be,  to  make  a  nation. 
Following  up  his  steps  and  passing  far  beyond,  came  the  great 
est  nationalist  Executive,  with  a  firm  hand,  holding  together 
warring  elements  with  power,  wisdom,  and  patience,  welding 
them  strongly  together,  so  that  in  a  day  when  his  eyes  had 
long  been  closed,  that  which  the  great  Judge  had  said  should 
be,  should  be  made  to  be.  Over  the  silent  forms  of  those  fallen 
in  the  most  terrible  conflict  of  the  long  struggle  for  the  per 
petuation  of  the  nation,  the  great  Executive  carried  forward 
the  reasoning  of  the  great  Judge — away  from  the  bloodless 
language  of  law  into  words  filled  with  the  ichor  of  the  love  of 
mankind,  into  words  immortal  with  unquestioning  faith: 

"It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining 
before  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion 
to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion — 
that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain; 
that  the  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that 
a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 


THE  MERIT  OF  A  MIGHTY  NAME 

JUDGE  W.   Q.  EWING 

THE  people  of  America  exalt  themselves  in  the  estimation 
of  all  civilization  by  honoring  the  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  for  even  now,  scarce  half  a  century  distant  from  the 
Titanic  straggle  in  which  his  splendor  dawned,  there  is  more 
of  honest  merit  in  his  mighty  name  than  ever  bore  the  burdens 
of  a  crown,  or  through  slaughter  won  a  throne.  Martin  Luther 
waited  nearly  three  centuries  for  the  full  recognition  of  his 
mighty  achievement ;  and  Shakespeare  nearly  a  century  longer 
for  the  universal  acclaim  of  his  splendid  genius ;  and  so  with 
scores  of  others  whose  great  names  now  belong  to  the  rich 
heritage  of  the  world.  The  rule  through  all  history  seems  to 
be  that  it  is  "Time  that  sets  all  things  even,"  and  gives  to 
every  man  his  own,  but  in  the  instance  of  the  great  Lincoln, 
an  awakened  sense  of  justice  superseded  Time,  and  wrote  his 
name  high  on  the  scroll  of  the  immortals,  even  while  the 
Nation  in  tears,  followed  him  to  the  grave. 

Few  persons  realize  the  brevity  of  Lincoln's  public  career, 
or  at  least  his  public  life  in  any  national  sense.  It  is  limited 
to  seven  brief  years.  There  are  several  men  in  this  audience 
to-night  who  have  a  larger  inter-State  acquaintance,  a  more 
extensive  law  practice  and  as  much  professional  reputation 
as  Lincoln  had  at  the  time  of  his  debate  with  Douglas.  That 
debate  gave  him  a  national  reputation;  his  Cooper  Union 
speech  a  year  later,  gave  an  international  reputation;  the 
year  following  came  the  presidency,  and  four  years  later,  his 
assassination — thus  in  seven  short  years  this  marvellous  man 
passed  from  the  seclusion  of  a  private  citizen  in  a  frontier 
town,  to  imperishable  renown. 

I  have  been  much  impressed  with  Lincoln's  uniqueness 
in  this — he  was  the  only  occupant  of  the  presidential  office 

171 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  whom  the  presidency  gave  lasting  distinction.  The  really 
great  men  who  have  held  that  office,  such  as  Washington, 
John  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Jackson,  Grant,  all  had 
achieved  enduring  fame  before  the  presidency  came  to  them, 
and  would  have  lived  as  long  in  history  and  the  grateful 
memory  of  men  without  the  presidency,  as  with  it.  But 
that  office  was  Lincoln's  opportunity;  he  went  to  it  from 
comparative  obscurity,  and  in  four  short  years,  by  virtue  of 
the  power  of  his  position,  achieved  immortality.  The  pres 
idential  office  did  not  make  him  great;  it  found  him  great — 
as  great  in  his  humble  Springfield  home  as  in  the  Nation's 
capital — but  the  presidency  gave  to  him  the  opportunity  to 
demonstrate  his  greatness — inherent  greatness.  It  is  notice 
able  to  us  all  that  the  magnet  which  attracts  the  world  to 
Lincoln  to-day,  is  exactly  the  qualities  of  mind  and  heart- 
intelligence,  gentleness,  humanity,  and  sincerity — which  he 
manifested  among  his  associates,  from  his  flat-boat  experience 
to  his  residence  in  the  "White  House. 

On  the  annual  recurrence  of  this  day,  the  youth  of  America 
should  be  taught  the  beautiful  story  of  a  life  begun  in  pov 
erty,  sustained  by  constant  struggle,  and  yet  inseparably  in 
terwoven  with  the  most  heroic  efforts  of  men,  for  men — a  life 
replete  with  lessons  of  industry,  economy,  sobriety,  and  in 
tegrity,  illustrating  in  the  fullest  degree  the  possibilities 
that  are  open  under  republican  government  to  every  earnest, 
honest  child,  to  rise  from  the  lowliest  walks  of  life  to  the  very 
palisades  of  enduring  fame. 

No  young  man  can  study  the  life  of  Lincoln  from  child 
hood  to  his  assassination,  without  being  impressed  with  its 
beauty,  simplicity,  and  moral  grandeur  and  feeling  the 
promptings  of  a  laudable  ambition  to  so  order  his  own  life 
that  he  may  leave  the  world  wiser  and  happier  and  better  for 
having  lived  in  it. 

Lincoln's  character  was  many  sided,  and  every  phase  of  it 
was  a  manifestation  of  strength,  if  not  of  absolute  greatness ; 
that  peculiarity  which  at  one  time  some  people  thought  weak 
and  frivolous  in  his  heroic  combination,  namely,  the  love  of 
the  humorous,  the  "baiting  place  of  wit,"  is  now,  I  believe, 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  173 

regarded  by  all  thoughtful  and  candid  men,  as  the  only  sur 
cease  from  anxious,  troubling  thought  that  visited  his  sad  and 
earnest  life.  To  my  mind  it  is  clear,  that  the  humorous 
phase  of  Lincoln's  character  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  his 
marvellous  power — was  the  ready,  and  possibly  the  best,  means 
of  securing  for  his  most  serious  thought  and  real  purpose, 
the  consideration  of  the  common  people;  for  it  must  be  con 
stantly  borne  in  mind  that  he  was  in  fact  not  only  a  very 
serious  and  thoughtful,  but  sometimes  a  much  depressed  man ; 
and  if  he  sometimes  caused  the  people  to  laugh,  it  was  that 
he  might  compel  them  to  think.  His  object  was  not  mirth, 
but  thought;  and  thousands  of  times  I  doubt  not,  he  has  said 
to  his  own  sad  heart, — 


"If  I  laugh  at  any  mortal  thing, 
Tis  that  I  may  not  weep." 


Genius  never  needs  an  introduction  to  itself.  Lincoln  could 
not  have  been  unconscious  of  his  wonderful  talent  and  power 
as  a  leader  of  men.  When  in  1858  he  applied  to  the  un 
fortunate  condition  of  American  institutions  the  scriptural 
saying,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,"  he 
heard,  even  then,  the  distant  rumble  of  Freedom's  gathering 
hosts,  and  when,  a  moment  later,  he  added,  "I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  di 
vided,"  who  can  question  that  his  prophetic  soul  foresaw 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  possibly  his  own  great  part 
in  the  gigantic  struggle  that  was  to  enthrone  Freedom,  and 
mark  the  dawn  of  a  splendid  era  in  the  civilization  of  the 
world  ? 

His  life  was  cast  in  a  crucial  period  of  the  world's  history, 
during  a  time  when  a  great  moral  principle — greater  than 
any  man,  as  great  as  all  men — was  struggling  for  universal 
recognition,  the  principle  of  the  equal  right  of  all  men  to  life 
and  liberty,  he  became  involved  in  the  struggle,  gave  to  .it 
his  best  thought,  his  highest  endeavor,  and  finally  the  prin 
ciple  took  possession  of  him  and  dominated  his  life.  Taken 
for  all  in  all,  tested  by  the  highest  standard  of  true  greatness, 
history  must  accord  to  Abraham  Lincoln  a  place  second  to 


174  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

that  of  no  one  of  the  century  that  gave  him  birth — an  era 
without  parallel  in  the  development  of  art  and  science;  rich 
in  invention,  statesmanship,  philosophy,  oratory,  and  song; 
the  era  of  Von  Moltke,  Humboldt,  Bismarck,  Hugo,  Browning, 
Carlyle,  Gladstone,  Sumner,  Douglas,  Beecher,  Emerson, 
Grant.  Surely,  for  one  to  attract  with  a  splendor  all  his 
own,  in  such  a  galaxy  of  learning  and  genius,  is  an  absolute 
demonstration  of  greatness. 

We  cannot,  however,  contemplate  the  life  and  character  of 
Lincoln  without  realizing  the  fact  that  his  greatness  could 
not  have  been  made  manifest  to  the  world,  but  for  the  unre 
mitting  discussion  of  human  rights  by  the  Garrisons  and 
Greeleys  and  Sumners  and  Lovejoys  and  John  Browns. 

The  old  line  Abolitionists  of  fifty  years  ago,  were  the 
marked  and  masterful  men  of  their  time ;  once  hated,  derided, 
and  shunned  as  ''the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness  and 
the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday,"  these  faithful  van- 
guardsmen  of  freedom  patiently  bided  their  time;  with  faith 
in  God  and  faith  in  humanity,  they  "bore  the  cross,  endured 
the  shame,"  and  through  threatening  and  slaughter  "pressed 
forward  to  the  mark  of  the  prize"  of  their  high  calling,  and 
now  dwell  serenely  in  the  world's  abiding  gratitude  and  love. 

In  the  presence  of  these  great  names,  I  bend  my  heart  to 
its  knees.  They  were  men  of  but  one  idea ;  but  that  idea  en 
compassed  a  whole  race  then  in  bondage ;  it  was  as  broad  as  the 
universe  of  God;  it  comprehended  the  spirit  of  universal 
liberty;  it  gilded  with  a  fadeless  splendor  American  man 
hood;  it  gave  as  a  heritage  to  immortality  that  transcendent 
composite  of  greatness  and  goodness,  of  genius  and  gentle 
ness,  of  sublimity  and  simplicity — Abraham  Lincoln. 


POWER  IN  LONELINESS 

JUDGE  PETER  STENGER  GROSSCUP 

THERE  has  been  no  narrative  of  Lincoln's  life  yet  written 
that  one  feels  to  be  adequate ;  no  adequate  portrayal  of 
his  character ;  no  adequate  portrayal  of  his  face.  Behind  the 
life,  and  the  character,  and  the  face  that  we  associate  with 
Lincoln,  as  behind  the  stars  that  stand  out  in  the  depths  of 
the  night,  a  vaster  depth  extends  that  makes  of  what  we  see 
a  faint  impression  only  of  what  we  feel  must  be  behind — 
that  links  that  figure  into  the  mysterious  order  of  the  universe. 
And  yet,  ''born  in  Kentucky,  February  12,  1809;  reared  in 
Indiana;  practised  law  in  Illinois;  was  in  Legislature  and 
in  Congress  one  term" — such  would  have  been  the  mention 
of  the  name,  "Abraham  Lincoln,"  in  any  short  "History  of 
Illinois,"  and  no  mention  at  all  in  any  other  "History,"  had 
Lincoln  died  at  the  present  age  of  President  Roosevelt. 

Slavery  was  the  nation's  inherited  disease.  It  had  crept 
into  our  national  life  as  disease  sometimes  creeps  into  health, 
firmly  fastened  before  alarm  is  created.  From  the  beginning, 
of  course,  it  was  a  wrong — a  deep  injustice  done  by  men  to 
other  men — and  as  such,  aroused  the  conscience  of  thinking 
men.  But  from  the  beginning,  also,  it  was  an  institution  of 
the  land,  grown  up  under  the  law,  and  as  such  claimed  the 
toleration  that  thinking  men  give,  out  of  respect  to  the  law. 
And  for  the  early  period  of  the  Republic,  this  conscience  of 
thinking  men  and  this  respect  for  law  that  thinking  men 
are  never  without,  compromised  on  a  line  that  divided  between 
them  the  continent  of  America. 

But  as  the  Western  half  of  the  continent  opened  for  settle 
ment,  the  line  of  compromise  vanished.  This  Western  half 
was  a  domain  belonging  to  the  nation — to  the  South  as  well 
as  to  the  North — and  into  it,  carrying  all  that  the  law  allowed 
them  to  possess  at  home,  even  as  the  people  of  the  North 

175 


176  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

might  carry  all  that  the  law  allowed  them  to  possess  at  home, 
the  people  of  the  South  claimed  access.  "Can  this  be  right ?" 
asked  conscience.  "It  is  the  law,"  said  a  majority  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  when  given  a  chance  to  speak  upon  the  mat 
ter.  The  crisis  had  come.  The  public  mind  was  brought  to  a 
standstill,  to  take  a  new  survey  of  the  changed  situation  that 
lay  before  it ;  and  upon  the  result  of  that  new  survey,  in  the 
realm  of  decided  law  in  conflict  with  eternal  human  right, 
turned  the  destiny  of  America,  the  destiny  of  free  govern 
ment  the  world  over. 

It  was  here  that  Lincoln  came  into  the  public  view.  For 
the  mission  that  lay  before  him,  his  life,  instead  of  being 
poor,  had  been  rich  in  helpful  circumstance.  Born  in  the 
midst  of  slavery,  he  knew  the  institution  on  its  human  side, 
as  the  North  did  not  know  it.  Beared  among  those  who  were 
poor,  in  the  free  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  he  realized 
by  experience  how  deeply  human,  also,  was  the  consciousness 
of  every  man  that  he  had  a  right  to  the  bread  he  earned  in 
the  sweat  of  his  brow.  Living  his  life  among  the  plain  people, 
he  knew  that  on  any  great  matter  of  human  right,  the  mind 
and  the  heart  of  the  plain  people  the  country  over,  being 
once  aroused,  were  almost  as  one.  This  was  the  equipment 
given  him  by  his  heritage  and  his  environment.  It  gave  him 
what,  in  the  preparation  for  a  great  part,  is  of  infinitely 
more  consequence  than  mere  education  or  culture — a  knowl 
edge  of  the  conditions  and  forces  that  were  to  be  put  at 
his  command.  And  to  this  equipment,  through  circum 
stance,  he  brought  a  self-trained  intellect,  honest  with  itself, 
that,  like  the  work  of  the  self-trained  carpenter  building  his 
own  house,  instead  of  going  by  rote,  inspects  and  tests,  and 
carefully  measures  every  piece  before  it  goes  finally  into 
the  structure — an  intellect  that  never  accepted  a  conclusion 
that  had  not  been  tested  with  the  hammer  of  honest  inquiry, 
to  see  if  it  rang  true;  and  that  never  offered  an  argument 
to  the  people  that  was  not  tested  in  the  same  way,  and  in 
their  presence,  that  they,  too,  might  see  and  hear  that  it  rang 
exactly  true.  Indeed,  the  debates  with  Douglas,  and  the 
Cooper  Union  speech,  are  the  highest  examples  in  our  his- 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  177 

tory,  of  political  discussion  put  upon  the  plane  of  pains 
taking,  scientific,  truth-seeking  inquiry.  And,  finally,  to  all 
these  qualities  of  intellect  and  environment,  he  joined  an 
imagination  that  places  him  by  the  side  of  the  Prophets 
of  Israel;  a  steadfastness  of  purpose  that  showed,  even 
before  the  time  came  for  its  showing,  that  he  could  become 
a  martyr ;  and  a  heart  for  mankind,  second  only  to  the  heart 
of  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

How  came  that  Convention  in  May,  1860,  to  find  this  Lin 
coln,  and  then  name  him  as  the  country's  deliverer?  Partly 
because,  more  than  any  other  man  living,  this  plain  Lincoln 
of  the  West,  in  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates  and  in  the 
Cooper  Union  speech,  had  taken  hold  upon  the  public  mind. 
The  public  convictions  that  are  really  potential,  often  lie 
obscured  for  long  reaches  of  time,  under  the  repressive  in 
fluences  of  politics  or  commercial  interests.  But  let  some 
one  once  truthfully  and  courageously  proclaim  them — give 
voice  to  what,  in  their  inner  thoughts,  the  people  themselves 
are  thinking — and  that  man  at  once  becomes  the  people's 
spokesman.  It  was  this  Western  Lincoln  who  thus  spoke. 
He  stood  forth  the  one  man  of  his  time  whose  intellectual 
vision  accurately  sized  up  the  crisis;  the  one  man  whose 
painstaking,  honest  logic  brought  the  crisis,  in  all  its  in 
evitability,  within  the  comprehension  of  the  people;  the 
one  man  who  had  found  clear  ground  on  which,  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  to  stand  for  the  right  and  for  the  law.  And 
thus  it  was  that  a  troubled  nation,  groping  its  way  on  this 
slavery  question  toward  the  light,  came  to  feel  at  last  that 
it  had  laid  hold  of  the  hand  that  knew  in  what  direction 
the  light  lay. 

But  beyond  this,  Lincoln  had  been  raised  up,  I  believe 
providentially,  for  the  work  that  awaited  him;  it  is  the  con 
sciousness,  latent  in  us  all,  that  this  is  true,  that  makes  any 
human  portrayal  of  him  seem  inadequate — that  makes  what 
you  see  of  him  only  an  impression  of  what  you  feel  must 
lie  behind.  I  have  spoken  of  the  conditions  that,  before  he 
was  born,  sowing  the  seeds  from  which  his  character  was 
to  spring,  fore-ordered  a  man  equipped  for  the  work  that 


178  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

awaited  him.  That  was  not  mere  chance.  I  have  spoken 
of  his  self-trained  intellect — an  intellect  that,  trained  in  the 
schools,  would  have  lost  the  necessity  of  testing,  in  its  own 
way  and  for  its  own  conscience,  everything  that  came  within 
its  range;  and  in  that  loss  would  have  been  lost  the  strange 
power  that  gave  to  Lincoln  his  hold  on  the  public  mind. 
That  was  not  mere  chance.  I  have  spoken  of  his  love  of 
Truth — his  willingness  always  to  abide  by  it,  his  fixed  de 
termination  that  others  should  be  obliged  to  abide  by  it. 
That  was  not  mere  chance.  There  was  one  thing  more  in 
the  preparation  of  this  man  for  a  crisis  that  was  not  mere 
chance. 

When  God  was  raising  up  a  leader  to  bring  the  children  of 
Abraham  out  of  the  land  where  they  were  bondsmen,  he 
led  Moses,  first  as  a  waif  into  the  house  of  the  King,  and 
then  as  a  fugitive  into  the  land  of  Midian,  where,  as  a  tender 
of  flocks,  he  dwelt  on  the  far  side  of  the  desert  up  against 
Mount  Horeb.  How  long  Moses  was  there,  the  desert  on  one 
side  and  the  wilderness  of  the  mountain  on  the  other,  en 
veloped  in  as  great  a  loneliness  as  if  the  whole  earth  were 
void  of  life  save  him  and  his  flock,  we  are  not  told.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  it  was  not  into  the  King's  palace,  but 
into  this  loneliness  of  desert  and  mountain,  that  the  divine 
spark  penetrated,  lighting  that  flame  in  the  midst  of  the 
bush. 

From  beginning  to  end,  in  the  preparation  of  Lincoln  for 
the  work  that  awaited  him — and  then  again  when  the  work 
was  actually  upon  him,  that  he  might  be  kept  equal  to  its 
exactions — he,  too,  was  kept  deeply  enveloped  in  an  atmos 
phere  of  Aloneness.  Alone  as  a  boy,  separated  by  tragedy 
from  his  father's  companionship,  and  by  poverty  from  the 
companionship  of  those  who  would  have  interested  him ;  alone 
as  a  young  man  in  an  Indiana  clearing,  hearing  no  voice  of 
neighbor  for  weeks  at  a  time,  except  the  distant  axe  as  it 
fell  in  muffled  notes  in  the  woodland  beyond;  alone  as  a 
grown  man,  pathetically  out  of  place  between  the  barrels 
and  the  counter  of  a  country  store,  patiently  striving  to 
find  his  place,  as,  buried  in  the  grasses  of  the  wide  and  lonely 


THE  CHICAGO  COMMEMORATION  179 

prairie,  he  lapped  up  every  pool  of  knowledge  on  which  he 
chanced — Euclid's  Geometry,  Clay's  Speeches,  Blackstone 
— devouring  every  book  that  came  his  way,  simply  from  thirst 
for  knowledge,  without  settled  purpose,  or  settled  order ;  alone 
as  President — that  one  brain  and  that  one  heart  charged 
with  responsibility  for  each  recurring  phase  of  a  mighty  war, 
and  for  each  recurring  problem  of  the  nation's  peace, 
charged  with  responsibility  to  God  and  all  mankind  that  free 
government  should  not  perish  from  the  earth — Oh,  the  lone 
liness  of  Lincoln,  the  tragic  loneliness  of  that  great  life! 
Destined,  in  the  very  nature  of  his  burden,  to  walk  alone 
always — wherever  he  was,  on  frontier  or  in  the  Capital,  the 
world  pushed  back — that  into  the  stillness  of  the  one  life, 
upon  whom  such  destiny  depended,  no  influence  should  enter 
that  came  not  laden  with  the  wisdom  of  the  Eternal  One ! 

Saint-Gaudens  has  caught  this  phase  of  this  great  life 
in  the  statue  shortly  to  be  erected  here  in  Grant  Park. 
Seated  in  the  chair  of  state,  one  of  his  long  hands  reaching 
well  out  on  one  of  the  long  legs,  the  furrowed  homely  face 
drawn  into  itself  in  deep  meditation,  is  the  figure  of  the 
President;  and  at  effective  distance  on  either  side,  to  mark 
off  the  isolation  of  this  figure  from  the  world,  rise  two  tall 
marble  columns.  To  those  of  us  who  have  seen  the  monu 
ment  set  up,  in  its  entirety,  at  Saint-Gaudens 's  home  at 
Cornish,  the  portrayal  is  complete — Lincoln  living  in  bronze, 
as  Lincoln  lived  his  life,  Power  in  Loneliness. 

And  here,  as  long  as  this  city  stands,  will  this  figure  of 
Lincoln  endure.  He  is  no  longer  alone.  Before  him  stretches 
the  city.  Around  him  is  the  nation.  Above  him  are  the 
skies.  Behind  him  an  inland  sea,  stretching  away  to  the 
sky.  Around  him  play  the  winds.  On  his  brow  alight  mes 
sengers  from  the  sun.  The  waves  speak  to  him  from  the 
deep,  the  birds  from  the  air.  On  every  side,  as  in  the  flame 
of  fire  out  of  the  bush,  God  speaks.  He  is  not  alone.  Lin 
coln,,  living,  was  not  alone.  Where  God  is,  man  is  not  alone., 


THE  SPKINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION 

THE  City  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  had  a  peculiar  interest 
in  the  Lincoln  Centenary,  and  made  unusual  efforts  to 
observe  it  in  a  fitting  manner;  for  it  was  at  Springfield  that 
Lincoln  lived  for  many  years;  here  that  he  practised  his 
profession;  and  here,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Wash 
ington  as  President,  that  he  delivered  that  wonderful  Fare 
well  Speech  to  his  fellow-townsmen — a  speech  which  was 
almost  a  prophetic  recognition  of  the  fact  that  he  was  to 
return  no  more. 

The  celebration  at  Springfield  was  undertaken  by  an  asso 
ciation  of  prominent  men,  who  for  the  purposes  of  properly 
observing  the  Centenary  incorporated  themselves  under  the 
name  of  the  Lincoln  Centennial  Association.  The  officers  of 
the  association  were:  Hon.  J.  Otis  Humphrey,  President; 
John  W.  Bunn,  Vice-President ;  Philip  Barton  Warren,  Sec 
retary;  and  J.  H.  Holbrook,  Treasurer. 

To  act  with  the  Lincoln  Centennial  Association  in  the 
proper  observance  of  the  day  by  Springfield,  Hon.  Charles 
S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois,  appointed  a  State  Committee, 
with  Hon.  James  A.  Connolly  as  President.  These  two  bodies 
cooperated  in  securing  the  necessary  funds  for  an  elaborate 
commemoration  of  the  Centenary,  and  in  the  plans  for  the 
impressive  programme  which  resulted. 

The  day  was  marked  first  by  the  morning  pilgrimage  of 
the  notable  guests  from  away — impressively  escorted — to  the 
old  Lincoln  home,  past  the  Court  House  where  Lincoln  prac 
tised  law,  by  the  building  where  his  office  was  located,  to  the 
church  where  he  worshipped,  and  where  his  name  yet  ap 
pears  upon  the  pew  he  occupied,  and  to  the  burial  place  of 
the  great  War  President.  At  the  tomb  of  Lincoln,  old  sol 
diers  who  had  responded  to  Lincoln's  call  to  arms,  stood 
guard  with  bayonets. 

183 


184  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

In  the  afternoon,  a  mammoth  meeting  was  held  in  the  big 
tabernacle,  into  which  crowded  eight  thousand  people,  while 
thousands  more  were  turned  away.  Addresses  were  delivered 
by  Hon.  William  J.  Bryan,  and  by  Senator  Jonathan  P. 
Dolliver,  with  informal  speeches  by  the  French  and  English 
Ambassadors. 

The  main  celebration  of  the  Centennial  day  took  form  in  a 
great  banquet  under  State  auspices,  held  in  the  State  Arsenal 
on  the  evening  of  the  Centenary.  Gathered  there  were  the 
Governor,  various  State  officers,  and  representative  organiza 
tions,  not  only  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  but  from  the  con 
fines  of  the  country.  Over  seven  hundred  men  sat  down  to 
the  beautifully  decorated  tables,  beneath  waving  flags  and 
bunting,  while  the  galleries  above  were  made  gay  with  groups 
of  notable  spectators.  'Judge  J.  Otis  Humphrey  acted  as 
toastmaster  of  the  evening ;  Governor  Deneen  spoke  on  behalf 
of  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  formal  addresses  of  the  evening 
were  by  H.  E.  the  British  Ambassador,  Honorable  James 
Bryce,  and  H.  E.  the  French  Ambassador,  Jean  A.  A.  J. 
Jusserand;  while  informal  speeches  were  delivered  by  Sena 
tor  Dolliver  of  Iowa,  and  by  Mr.  Bryan. 

A  unique  feature  of  the  day's  exercises  was  the  reception 
given  in  the  old  Lincoln  home  by  the  Springfield  Chapter 
of  The  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  in  honor  of 
Mrs.  Donald  McLean  of  New  York,  President-General  of  the 
national  organization;  Mrs.  E.  S.  Walker,  Chapter-Regent, 
being  the  hostess  in  charge.  The  appointments  of  the  dining- 
room  in  which  refreshments  were  served  were  entirely  in 
keeping  with  the  period  in  which  Lincoln  lived,  and  the  silver 
ware,  table  linen,  glass,  and  china-ware  were  those  used  by 
Lincoln,  being  now  the  property  of  either  the  Lincoln  or 
Edwards  family,  or  of  their  most  intimate  friends.  The 
cloth  used  on  the  table  was  the  one  used  at  the  wedding  sup 
per  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  bride,  while  the  various 
dishes,  urns,  trays,  and  epergnes  each  claimed  some  historical 
significance.  Many  distinguished  guests  were  present,  in 
cluding  our  old  War  President's  son,  Robert  T.  Lincoln.  The 
reception  was  followed  by  a  banquet  for  the  members  of  The 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         185 

Daughters  of  the  American  Kevolution  and  their  guests  of 
honor,  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building. 

In  the  rooms  of  the  Illinois  Historical  Society,  an  imposing 
exhibit  of  Lincolniana  was  opened  to  the  public.  The  negroes 
of  the  city  held  a  separate  meeting  of  their  own  in  honor  of 
the  day,  while  at  the  various  churches  and  schools  the  Cen 
tenary  was  reverently  observed.  The  Springfield  Commemo 
ration  was  an  achievement  and  a  tribute,  of  most  significant 
proportions. 


LINCOLN  AS  AN  ORATOR 

HON.   .WILLIAM   J.   BRYAN 

LINCOLN'S  fame  as  a  statesman  and  as  the  nation's 
chief  executive  during  its  most  crucial  period,  has  so 
overshadowed  his  fame  as  an  orator  that  his  merits  as  a 
public  speaker  have  not  been  sufficiently  emphasized.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  his  nomination  was  directly  due  to 
the  prominence  which  he  won  upon  the  stump;  that  in  a 
most  remarkable  series  of  debates  he  held  his  own  against 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  America  has  produced; 
and  that  to  his  speeches,  more  than  to  the  arguments  of  any 
other  one  man,  or  in  fact  of  all  other  public  men  combined, 
was  due  the  success  of  his  party — when  all  these  facts  are 
borne  in  mind,  it  will  appear  plain,  even  to  the  casual  ob 
server,  that  too  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  extraor 
dinary  power  which  he  exercised  as  a  speaker.  That  his 
nomination  was  due  to  the  effect  that  his  speeches  produced, 
can  not  be  disputed.  When  he  began  his  fight  against  slavery 
in  1854,  he  was  but  little  known  outside  of  the  counties  in 
which  he  attended  court.  It  is  true  that  he  had  been  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  some  years  before,  but  at  that  time  he  was 
not  stirred  by  any  great  emotion  or  connected  with  the  dis 
cussion  of  any  important  theme,  and  he  made  but  little  im 
pression  upon  national  politics.  The  threatened  extension 
of  slavery,  however,  aroused  him,  and  with  a  cause  which 


186  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

justified  his  best  efforts  he  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the 
fight.  The  debates  with  Douglas  have  never  had  a  parallel 
in  this,  or,  so  far  as  history  shows,  in  any  other  country. 

In  engaging  in  this  contest  with  Douglas  he  met  a  foe- 
man  worthy  of  his  steel,  for  Douglas  had  gained  a  deserved 
reputation  as  a  great  debater,  and  recognized  that  his  future 
depended  upon  the  success  with  which  he  met  the  attacks 
of  Lincoln.  On  one  side  an  institution  supported  by  history 
and  tradition,  and  on  the  other  a  growing  sentiment  against 
the  holding  of  a  human  being  in  bondage — these  presented 
a  supreme  issue.  Douglas  won  the  senatorial  seat  for  which 
the  two  at  that  time  had  contested,  but  Lincoln  won  a  larger 
victory — he  helped  to  mould  the  sentiment  that  was  dividing 
parties  and  re-arranging  the  political  map  of  the  country. 
When  the  debates  were  concluded,  every  one  recognized 
him  as  the  leader  of  the  cause  which  he  had  espoused;  and 
it  was  a  recognition  of  this  leadership  which  he  had  secured 
through  his  public  speeches,  that  enabled  him,  a  Western 
man,  to  be  nominated  over  the  Eastern  candidates — not  only 
a  Western  man,  but  a  man  lacking  in  book  learning  and  the 
polish  of  the  schools.  No  other  American  President  has  ever 
so  clearly  owed  his  elevation  to  his  oratory.  Washington, 
Jefferson,  and  Jackson,  the  Presidents  usually  mentioned  in 
connection  with  him,  were  all  poor  speakers. 

In  analyzing  Lincoln's  characteristics  as  a  speaker,  one 
is  impressed  with  the  completeness  of  his  equipment.  He 
possessed  the  two  things  that  are  absolutely  essential  to 
effective  speaking — namely,  information  and  earnestness.  If 
one  can  be  called  eloquent  who  knows  what  he  is  talking 
about  and  means  what  he  says — and  I  know  of  no  better 
definition — Lincoln's  speeches  were  eloquent.  He  was  thor 
oughly  informed  upon  the  subject;  he  was  prepared  to  meet 
his  opponent  upon  the  general  proposition  discussed,  and 
upon  any  deductions  which  could  be  drawn  from  it.  There 
was  no  unexplored  field  into  which  his  adversary  could  lead 
him;  he  had  carefully  examined  every  foot  of  the  ground 
and  was  not  afraid  of  pitfall  or  ambush,  and,  what  was 
equally  important,  he  spoke  from  his  own  heart  to  the  hearts 


Copijright,  limn,  l»j  L.  G   Mnller 


Bronze  Bas-Relief  of  Lincoln  by  C.  Pickett 

(The  sculptor  worked  with  Leonard  W.  Yolk,  of  Chicago,  known  for 
his  famous  death-mask  of  Lincoln) 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         1ST 

of  those  who  listened.  While  the  printed  page  can  not  fully 
reproduce  the  impressions  made  by  a  voice  trembling  with 
emotion  or  tender  with  pathos,  one  can  not  read  the  reports 
of  the  debates  without  feeling  that  Lincoln  regarded  the  sub 
ject  as  far  transcending  the  ambitions  or  the  personal  in 
terests  of  the  debaters.  It  was  of  little  moment,  he  said, 
whether  they  voted  him  or  'Judge  Douglas  up  or  down,  but 
it  was  tremendously  important  that  the  question  should  be 
decided  rightly.  His  reputation  may  have  suffered  in  the 
opinion  of  some,  because  he  made  them  think  so  deeply  upon 
what  he  said,  that  they,  for  the  moment,  forgot  him  alto 
gether,  and  yet  is  this  not  the  very  perfection  of  speech? 
It  is  the  purpose  of  the  orator  to  persuade  and,  to  do  this, 
he  presents  not  himself  but  his  subject.  Someone  in  de 
scribing  the  difference  between  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  said 
that  "when  Cicero  spoke,  people  said,  'How  well  Cicero 
speaks/  but  when  Demosthenes  spoke,  they  said,  'Let  us  go 
against  Philip'."  In  proportion  as  one  can  forget  himself 
and  become  wholly  absorbed  in  the  cause  which  he  is  present 
ing,  does  he  measure  up  to  the  requirements  of  oratory. 

In  addition  to  the  two  essentials,  Lincoln  possessed  what 
may  be  called  the  secondary  aids  to  oratory.  He  was  a  mas 
ter  of  statement.  Few  have  equalled  him  in  the  ability  to 
strip  a  truth  of  surplus  verbiage  and  present  it  in  its  naked 
strength.  In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we  read  that 
there  are  certain  self-evident  truths,  which  are  therein  enu 
merated.  If  I  were  going  to  amend  the  proposition,  I  would 
say  that  all  truth  is  self-evident.  Not  that  any  truth  will 
be  universally  accepted,  for  not  all  are  in  a  position  or  in 
an  attitude  to  accept  any  given  truth.  In  the  interpretation 
of  the  "Parable  of  the  Sower/'  we  are  told  that  "the  cares 
of  this  world  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  choke  the 
truth/'  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  every  truth  has 
these  or  other  difficulties  to  contend  with.  But  a  truth  may 
be  so  clearly  stated  that  it  will  commend  itself  to  anyone 
who  has  not  some  special  reason  for  rejecting  it. 

No  one  has  more  clearly  stated  the  fundamental  objections 
to  slavery  than  Lincoln  stated  them,  and  he  had  a  great  ad- 


188  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

vantage  over  his  opponent  in  being  able  to  state  those  ob 
jections  frankly,  for  Judge  Douglas  neither  denounced  nor 
defended  slavery  as  an  institution — his  plan  embodied  a  com 
promise,  and  he  could  not  discuss  slavery  upon  its  merits 
without  alienating  either  the  slave-owner  or  the  abolitionist 

Brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit,  and  a  part  of  Lincoln's  reputa 
tion  for  wit  lies  in  his  ability  to  condense  a  great  deal  into 
a  few  words.  He  was  epigrammatic.  A  moulder  of  thought 
is  not  necessarily  an  originator  of  the  thought  moulded.  Just 
as  lead,  moulded  into  the  form  of  bullets,  has  its  effectiveness 
increased,  so  thought  may  have  its  propagating  power  enor 
mously  increased  by  being  moulded  into  a  form  that  the  eye 
catches  and  the  memory  holds.  Lincoln  was  the  spokesman 
of  his  party — he  gave  felicitous  expression  to  the  thoughts 
of  his  followers. 

His  Gettysburg  speech  is  not  surpassed,  if  equalled,  in 
beauty,  simplicity,  force,  and  appropriateness  by  any  speech 
of  the  same  length  of  any  language.  It  is  the  world's  model 
in  eloquence,  elegance,  and  condensation.  He  might  safely 
rest  his  reputation  as  an  orator  on  that  speech  alone. 

He  was  apt  in  illustration — no  one  more  so.  A  simple 
story  or  simile  drawn  from  everyday  life  flashed  before  his 
hearers  the  argument  that  he  wanted  to  present.  He  did 
not  speak  over  the  heads  of  his  hearers,  and  yet  his  language 
was  never  commonplace.  There  is  strength  in  simplicity, 
and  Lincoln's  style  was  simplicity  itself. 

He  understood  the  power  of  the  interrogatory,  for  some 
of  his  most  powerful  arguments  were  condensed  into  ques 
tions.  Of  all  those  who  discussed  the  evils  of  separation 
and  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  preservation  of 
the  Union,  no  one  ever  put  the  matter  more  forcibly  than 
Lincoln  did  when,  referring  to  the  possibility  of  war  and  the 
certainty  of  peace  some  time,  even  if  the  Union  was  divided, 
he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  same  question  would 
have  to  be  dealt  with,  and  then  asked,  "Can  enemies  make 
treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws?" 

He  made  frequent  use  of  Bible  language  and  of  illustra 
tions  drawn  from  Holy  Writ.  It  is  said  that  when  he  was 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         189 

preparing  his  Springfield  speech  of  1858  he  spent  hours  try 
ing  to  find  language  that  would  express  the  idea  that  dom 
inated  his  entire  career,  namely,  that  a  Republic  could  not 
permanently  endure  half  free  and  half  slave ;  and  that  finally 
a  Bible  passage  flashed  through  his  mind,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"I  have  found  it" — "If  a  house  be  divided  against  itself, 
that  house  can  not  stand,"  and  probably  no  other  Bible 
passage  ever  exerted  as  much  influence  as  this  one  in  the 
settlement  of  a  great  controversy. 

I  have  enumerated  some — not  all,  but  the  more  important 
— of  his  characteristics  as  an  orator,  and  on  this  day  I  venture 
for  the  moment  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  this  audience  away 
from  the  great  work  that  he  accomplished  as  a  patriot,  away 
from  his  achievements  in  the  line  of  statecraft,  to  the  means 
employed  by  him  to  bring  before  the  public  the  ideas  which 
attracted  attention  to  him.  His  power  as  a  public  speaker 
was  the  foundation  of  his  success,  and  while  it  is  obscured 
by  the  superstructure  that  was  reared  upon  it,  it  can  not  be 
entirely  overlooked  as  the  returning  anniversary  of  his  birth 
calls  increasing  attention  to  the  widening  influence  of  his 
work.  With  no  military  career  to  dazzle  the  eye  or  excite 
the  imagination;  with  no  public  service  to  make  his  name 
familiar  to  the  reading  public,  his  elevation  to  the  presidency 
would  have  been  impossible  without  his  oratory.  The  elo 
quence  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  were  no  more  necessary 
to  their  work,  and  Lincoln  deserves  to  have  his  name  written 
on  the  scroll  with  theirs. 


LINCOLN  AS  FRANCE  SAW  HIM 

HON.   JEAN   ADRIEN  JUSSEEAND 

ON  two  tragic  occasions,  at  a  century's  distance,  the  fate 
of  this  country  has  trembled  in  the  balance — would  it  be 
a  free  nation  ?  would  it  continue  to  be  one  nation  ?  A  leader 
was  wanted  on  both  occasions,  a  very  different  one  in  each 
case.  This  boon  from  above  was  granted  to  the  American 
people,  who  had  a  Washington  when  a  Washington  was 
needed,  and  a  Lincoln  when  a  Lincoln  could  save  them.  Both 
had  enemies,  both  had  doubters,  but  both  were  recognized  by 
all  open-minded  people,  and  above  all  by  the  nation  at  large, 
as  the  men  to  shape  the  nation's  destinies. 

When  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux  came  to  America  as  chief 
of  the  staff  in  the  Army  of  Eochambeau,  his  first  thought  was 
to  go  to  see  his  friend  La  Fayette,  and  at  the  same  time 
Washington.  He  has  noted  in  his  "Memoires"  what  were, 
on  first  sight,  his  impressions  of  the  not  yet  victorious,  not 
yet  triumphant,  not  yet  universally  admired  American  patriot. 
* '  I  saw, ' '  he  said,  ' '  M.  de  La  Fayette  talking  in  the  yard  with 
a  tall  man  of  five  feet  nine  inches,  of  noble  mien  and  sweet 
face.  It  was  the  General  himself.  I  dismounted  and  soon 
felt  myself  at  my  ease  by  the  side  of  the  greatest  and  best  of 
all  men.  All  who  meet  him  trust  him ;  but  no  one  is  familiar 
with  him,  because  the  sentiment  he  inspires  in  all  has  ever 
the  same  cause — a  profound  esteem  for  his  virtues,  and  the 
highest  opinion  of  his  talents. "  So  wrote  a  foreigner  who 
was  not  La  Fayette,  who  suddenly  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  the  great  man.  Any  chance  comer,  any  passer-by  would 
have  been  similarly  impressed.  He  inspired  confidence,  and 
those  who  saw  him  felt  that  the  fate  of  the  country  was  in 
safe  hands. 

Nearly  a  century  of  gradually  increasing  prosperity  had 

190 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         1Q1 

elapsed  when  came  the  hour  of  the  nation's  second  trial. 
Though  it  may  seem  to  us  a  small  matter  compared  with  what 
we  have  seen  since,  the  development  had  been  considerable; 
the  scattered  colonies  of  yore  had  become  a  great  nation;  yet 
now  it  seemed  as  if  all  was  again  in  doubt.  The  nation  was 
young,  wealthy,  powerful,  prosperous;  it  had  immense  do 
mains  and  resources ;  yet  it  seemed  that  her  fate  was  doomed 
to  parallel  those  of  the  old  empires  described  by  Tacitus,  and 
by  Raleigh  after  him,  which,  without  foes,  crumble  to  pieces 
under  their  own  weight.  Within  her  own  frontiers,  elements 
of  destruction  or  disruption  had  been  growing;  hatreds  were 
engendered  between  people  equally  brave,  bold,  and  sure  of 
their  rights.  The  edifice  raised  by  Washington  was  shaking 
on  its  base ;  a  catastrophe  was  at  hand.  Then  it  was  that  in 
a  middle-sized,  not  yet  world-famous  town — Chicago  by  name 
—the  Republican  Convention,  called  there  for  the  first  time, 
met  to  choose  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  It  has  met 
there  again  since  and  has  made,  each  time,  a  remarkable 
choice.  In  1860  it  chose  a  man  whom  my  predecessor  of 
those  days,  announcing  the  news  to  his  Government,  described 
as  "  a  man  almost  unknown,  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln. ' '  Almost 
unknown  was  he  indeed,  at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  and  the 
news  of  his  election  was  received  with  anxiety. 

My  country,  France,  was  then  governed  by  Napoleon  III; 
all  liberals  had  their  eyes  fixed  on  America.  Your  example 
was  the  great  example  which  gave  heart  to  our  most  progres 
sive  men.  You  had  proved  that  Republican  government  was 
possible,  by  having  one.  If  it  broke  to  pieces,  so  would  the 
hopes  of  all  those  among  us  who  expected  that  one  day  we 
should  have  done  the  same.  And  the  partisans  of  autocracy 
were  loud  in  their  assertion  that  a  Republic  was  well  and 
good  for  a  country  without  enemies  or  neighbors;  but  that  if 
a  storm  arose,  it  would  be  shattered.  A  storm  had  arisen, 
and  the  helm  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  that  "man  al 
most  unknown,  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln. ' ' 

"We  still  remember,"  wrote  years  later  the  illustrious  French  writer, 
Pre"vost-Paradol,  "the  uneasiness  with  which  we  awaited  the  first  words 
of  that  President,  then  unknown,  upon  whom  a  heavy  task  had  fallen, 


192  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  from  whose  advent  to  power  might  be  dated  the  ruin  or  regenera 
tion  of  his  country.  All  we  knew  was  that  he  had  sprung  from  the 
humblest  walks  of  life,  that  his  youth  had  been  spent  in  manual  labor; 
that  he  had  risen  by  degrees  in  his  town,  in  his  county,  and  in  his 
State.  What  was  this  favorite  of  the  people?  Democratic  societies 
are  liable  to  errors  which  are  fatal  to  them.  But  as  soon  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  arrived  in  Washington,  as  soon  as  he  spoke,  all  our  doubts 
and  fears  were  dissipated;  and  it  seemed  to  us  that  fate  itself  had 
pronounced  in  favor  of  the  good  cause,  since,  in  such  an  emergency, 
it  had  given  to  the  country  an  honest  man." 

For  Prevost-Paradol  and  for  millions  of  others,  the  first 
words — the  now  famous  Inaugural  Address — had  been  what 
a  first  glance  at  Washington  was  for  Chastellux,  a  revelation 
that  the  man  was  a  Man,  a  great  and  honest  one,  and  that 
once  more  the  fate  of  the  country,  at  an  awful  period,  had 
been  placed  in  safe  hands. 

Well  indeed  might  people  have  wondered  and  felt  anxious 
when  they  remembered  how  little  training  in  great  affairs 
the  new  ruler  had  had,  and  the  incredible  difficulty  of  the 
problems  he  would  have  to  solve — to  solve,  his  heart  bleeding 
at  the  very  thought,  for  he  had  to  fight — not  enemies,  but 
friends.  ("We  must  not  be  enemies. ") 

No  romance  of  adventure  reads  more  like  a  romance  than 
the  true  story  of  Lincoln's  youth,  and  of  the  wanderings  of 
his  family  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  from  Kentucky  to 
Indiana,  from  Indiana  to  the  newly-formed  State  of  Illinois; 
having  first  to  clear  a  part  of  the  forest,  then  to  build  a  door- 
less,  windowless  cabin,  with  one  room  for  all  the  uses  of  them 
all ;  the  whole  family  leading  the  sort  of  a  life  in  comparison 
with  which  that  of  Robinson  Crusoe  was  one  of  sybaritic  en 
joyment.  That  in  those  trackless,  neighborless,  bookless  parts 
of  the  country,  under  such  conditions,  Lincoln — the  grandson 
of  a  man  killed  by  the  Indians,  the  son  of  a  father  who  never 
succeeded  in  anything,  and  whose  utmost  literary  accomplish 
ment  consisted  in  signing  with  the  greatest  difficulty  his  own 
name  (an  accomplishment  he  had  in  common  with  the  father 
of  Shakespeare) — could  learn,  could  educate  himself,  was  the 
first  great  wonder  of  his  life.  It  showed  once  more  that  learn- 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         193 

ing  does  not  so  much  depend  upon  the  master 's  teaching  as 
upon  the  pupil's  desire. 

But  no  book,  no  school,  no  talk  with  refined  men,  would 
have  taught  him  what  his  rough  life  did.  Confronted  every 
day,  and  every  hour  of  the  day,  with  problems  which  had  to 
be  solved,  he  got  the  habit  of  seeing,  deciding,  and  acting  by 
himself.  Accustomed,  from  childhood,  to  live  surrounded  by 
the  unknown  and  to  meet  the  unexpected,  his  soul  learnt  to 
be  astonished  at  nothing,  and,  instead  of  losing  any  time  in 
wondering,  to  seek  at  once  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  What 
the  forest,  what  the  swamp,  what  the  river  taught  Lincoln 
cannot  be  overestimated.  After  long  years  of  it,  and  shorter 
years  at  long-vanished  New  Salem;  here  at  Springfield;  at 
Vandalia,  the  former  capital,  where  he  met  some  descendants 
of  his  precursors  in  the  forest,  the  French  coureurs  de  bois — 
almost  suddenly  he  found  himself  transferred  to  the  post  of 
greatest  honor  and  greatest  danger.  And  what  then  would 
say  the  "man  almost  unknown, "  the  backwoodsman  of  yester 
day?  What  would  he  say?  What  did  he  say?  The  right 
thing ! 

He  was  accustomed  not  to  be  surprised,  but  to  decide  and 
act.  And  so,  confronted  with  circumstances  which  were  so 
extraordinary  as  to  be  new  to  all,  he  was  the  man  least  aston 
ished  in  the  government.  His  rough  and  shrewd  instinct 
proved  of  better  avail  than  the  clever  minds  of  his  more  re 
fined  and  better  instructed  seconds.  It  was  Lincoln 's  instinct 
which  checked  Seward's  complicated  schemes  and  dangerous 
calculations.  Lincoln  could  not  calculate  so  cleverly,  but  he 
could  guess  better. 

His  instinct,  his  good  sense,  his  personal  disinterestedness, 
his  warmth  of  heart  for  friend  or  foe,  his  high  aim,  led  him 
through  the  awful  years  of  anguish  and  bloodshed  during 
which  the  number  of  fields  decked  with  tombs  ceaselessly  in 
creased,  and  no  one  knew  whether  there  would  be  one  powerful 
nation  or  two  weaker  ones,  the  odds  were  so  great.  They 
led  him  through  the  worst  and  through  the  best  hours;  and 
that  of  triumph  found  him  none  other  than  what  he  had  ever 
been  before,  a  man  of  duty,  the  devoted  servant  of  his  coun- 
13 


194  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

try,  with  deeper  furrows  on  his  face  and  more  melancholy 
in  his  heart.  And  so,  after  having  saved  the  nation,  he  went 
to  his  doom  and,  as  he  had  long  foreseen,  fell  a  victim  to  the 
cause  for  which  he  had  fought. 

The  emotion  caused  by  the  event  was  immense.  Among  my 
compatriots,  part  were  for  the  South,  part  for  the  North. 
They  should  not  be  blamed ;  it  was  the  same  among  Americans. 
But  the  whole  of  those  who  had  liberal  ideas,  the  bulk  of  my 
nation,  considered  neither  North  nor  South,  and  thought  only 
whether  the  Kepublic  would  survive  and  continue  a  great 
Kepublic,  or  be  shattered  to  pieces.  The  efforts  of  Lincoln 
to  preserve  the  Union  were  followed  with  keen  anxiety,  and 
with  the  fervent  hope  that  he  would  succeed. 

When  the  catastrophe  happened,  there  were  no  more  differ 
ences,  and  the  whole  French  nation  was  united  in  feeling. 
From  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress,  who  telegraphed  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  to  the  humblest  workman,  the  emotion  was  the  same ; 
a  wave  of  sympathy  covered  the  country,  such  an  one  as  was 
never  before  seen.  A  subscription  was  opened  to  have  a 
medal  struck  and  a  copy  in  gold  presented  to  Mrs.  Lincoln. 
In  order  that  it  might  be  a  truly  national  offering,  it  was 
decided  that  no  one  would  be  permitted  to  subscribe  more  than 
two  cents.  The  necessary  money  was  collected  in  an  instant, 
and  the  medal  was  struck,  bearing  these  memorable  words: 
' '  Dedicated  by  French  democracy  to  Lincoln,  honest  man,  who 
abolished  slavery,  reestablished  the  Union,  saved  the  Republic, 
without  unveiling  the  statue  of  Liberty.  ' ' 

The  French  press  was  unanimous ;  from  the  Royalist  Gazette 
de  France,  to  the  liberal  Journal  des  Debats,  came  forth  the 
same  expression  of  admiration  and  sorrow.  "A  Christian," 
said  the  Gazette  de  France,  "has  just  ascended  before  the 
throne  of  the  Final  Judge,  accompanied  by  the  souls  of  four 
millions  of  slaves,  created  like  ours  in  the  image  of  God,  and 
who  have  been  endowed  with  freedom  by  a  word  from  him. ' ' 
Prevost-Paradol,  a  member  of  the  French  Academy,  and  a 
prominent  liberal,  wrote : 

"The  political  instinct  which  made  enlightened  Frenchmen  interested 
in  the  maintenance  of  the  American  power,  more  and  more  necessary 


THE  SPRINGFIELD  COMMEMORATION         195 

to  the  equilibrium  of  the  world,  the  desire  to  see  a  great  democratic 
State  surmount  terrible  trials  and  continue  to  give  an  example  of  the 
most  perfect  liberty  united  with  the  most  absolute  equality,  assured 
the  cause  of  the  North  a  number  of  friends  among  us.  .  .  .  Lin 
coln  was  indeed  an  honest  man,  giving  to  the  word  its  full  meaning, 
or  rather  the  sublime  sense  which  belongs  to  it,  when  honesty  was 
to  contend  with  the  severest  trials  which  can  agitate  States  and  with 
events  which  have  an  influence  on  the  fate  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  but  one  object  in  view,  from  the  day  of  his  election  to 
that  of  his  death,  namely,  the  fulfilment  of  his  duty,  and  his  imagina 
tion  never  carried  him  beyond  it.  He  has  fallen  at  the  very  foofc 
of  the  altar,  covering  it  with  his  blood.  But  his  work  was  done, 
and  the  spectacle  of  a  rescued  Republic  was  what  he  could  look  upon 
with  consolation  when  his  eyes  were  closing  in  death.  Moreover  he 
has  not  lived  for  his  country  alone,  since  he  leaves  to  everyone  in  the 
world  to  whom  liberty  and  justice  are  dear,  a  great  remembrance  and 
a  pure  example." 

When,  in  a  log  cabin  of  Kentucky,  a  hundred  years  ago 
this  day,  that  child  was  born  who  was  named,  after  his  grand 
father  killed  by  the  Indians — Abraham  Lincoln — Napoleon  I. 
swayed  Europe,  'Jefferson  was  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  second  War  of  Independence  had  not  yet  come  to 
pass.  It  seems  all  very  remote,  but  the  memory  of  the  great 
man  whom  we  try  to  honor  to-day  is  as  fresh  as  if  he  had  only 
just  left  us.  "It  is,"  says  Plutarch,  "the  fortune  of  all  good 
men  that  their  virtue  rises  in  glory  after  their  death,  and  that 
the  envy  which  any  evil  man  may  have  conceived  against 
them  never  survives  the  envious."  Such  was  the  fate  of 
Lincoln. 


THE  ILLINOIS  SUPEEME  COURT 
COMMEMOEATION 


THE  ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT 
COMMEMORATION 

rjlHE  overshadowing  importance  of  the  services  which  Lin- 
A  coin  rendered  as  President  has  caused  many  people  to 
overlook,  until  recently,  that  Lincoln  was  prepared  for  that 
great  office  by  a  long  and  successful  career  at  the  bar.  It  was 
before  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court,  of  which  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  was  a  member  from  1841  to  1843,  that  he  achieved 
many  of  his  forensic  triumphs,  and  that  Court,  following  his 
assassination,  held  commemorative  exercises. 

On  February  11,  the  Lincoln  Centenary  was  observed  in 
an  impressive  manner  by  commemorative  exercises  held  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  the  Judiciary  Building  at 
Springfield,  particularly  reviewing  the  services  of  Lincoln  as 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  bar.  A  record  of  these  proceedings 
has  been  published  in  Volume  238,  Illinois  Supreme  Court 
Reports.  Upon  this  occasion  the  Court  was  addressed  by 
Mr.  MacChesney,  representing  the  city  of  Chicago;  Mr.  Jus 
tice  Hand,  responding  for  the  Court,  and  giving  a  scholarly 
review  of  Lincoln's  place  in  the  profession  of  the  law,  and 
of  his  work  before  that  Court ;  while  the  Court  was  addressed 
on  behalf  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  by  Hon. 
'James  H.  Matheny,  and  on  behalf  of  the  Sangamon  County 
Bar  Association,  by  Major  James  A.  Connolly. 

Upon  adjournment  after  these  exercises,  the  Supreme  Court 
went  in  a  body  to  attend  a  joint  celebration  under  the  aus 
pices  of  the  House  and  Senate  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Illinois,  in  the  Chamber  of  that  House  of  Representatives,  of 
which  both  Lincoln  and  Douglas  had  been  members,  and 
for  the  Speakership  of  which  Lincoln  was  twice  a  candidate. 
The  exercises  there  were  presided  over  by  Hon.  Edward  D. 
Shurtleff,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  ad 
dresses  were  made  by  the  Hon.  Charles  S.  Deneen,  Governor 
of  Illinois;  by  the  Hon.  Frank  P.  Schmitt,  Hon.  Frank  W. 

199 


200  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Burton,  Hon.  W.  Tudor  Ap  Madoc,  Hon.  John  Hruby,  Hon. 
A.  K.  Stearns^  Hon.  A.  M.  Foster,  and  Hon.  Henry  D.  Fulton ; 
while  Lincoln  'a  Gettysburg  Address  was  given  by  Hon.  Oliver 
Sollett. 


THE  CENTENARY  OF  LINCOLN 

NATHAN   WILLIAM   MAC  CHESNEY 

IT  is  deemed  suitable  that  upon  this  occasion  some  recogni 
tion  should  be  given  to  the  fact  that  this  State,  as  a  whole, 
is  about  to  celebrate  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  significance  of  the  event 
has  been  recognized  by  the  executive  proclamation  and  by  a 
joint  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly.  It  would  be  fitting 
if  this  Court,  also,  as  the  representative  of  the  other  great 
branch  of  the  government,  might  take  official  recognition  of 
this  great  centennial. 

The  State  of  Illinois  has  been  aroused  as  never  before.  The 
people  throughout  the  State  realize  the  service  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  rendered  to  them  and  to  the  nation.  The  citizens  of 
Chicago  have  planned  the  greatest  celebration  which  that  city 
has  ever  had  in  its  history — community-wide  in  its  aspect  and 
educational  in  its  nature.  The  citizens  of  Springfield  have 
planned  a  unique  and  comprehensive  programme,  reviewing 
the  life  and  services  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  be  participated  in 
by  distinguished  representatives  of  foreign  countries,  thus 
typifying  the  world-wide  appeal  of  the  man  whom  they  honor. 
It  is  peculiarly  appropriate  that  these  two  communities  should 
do  this,  for  in  Springfield  was  his  life  as  a  lawyer  spent. 
It  was  here  that  many  of  his  greatest  addresses  were  made, 
and  it  was  from  here  that  he  went,  with  a  sense  of  sadness, 
to  take  upon  him  the  oath  of  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  Chicago  that  he  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency.  It  was  there  that  he  issued 
the  challenge  to  Judge  Douglas  for  the  series  of  famous  joint 
debates,  and  it  was  there  that  he  made  his  first  reply  to  Judge 


ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION      201 

Douglas  in  that  series  which  made  his  candidacy  for  the  presi 
dency  possible,  nay,  inevitable. 

Chicago  is  to  observe  the  centenary  of  the  birth  of  this  great 
Illinoisan,  not  by  a  meeting  for  the  favored  few,  but  by  a 
great  civic  celebration,  in  order  that  all  the  people  may  realize 
the  spirit  that  animated  Lincoln,  and  perhaps  catch  it  in 
their  own  lives,  so  that  they,  too,  may  render  something  of 
the  service  that  he  rendered  to  the  State  that  he  loved  and 
served  so  well.  It  is,  therefore,  appropriate  that  Chicago 
should  come  here,  represented  by  one  of  her  bar,  and,  in  the 
presence  of  this  distinguished  tribunal,  pay  a  brief  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  lawyer.  And  on  behalf 
of  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  and  the  Citizens'  Committee,  I  de 
sire  to  present  to  this  Court  a  bronze  tablet  on  which  is 
inscribed  the  Gettysburg  Address  of  Lincoln,  which  is  the 
creed  of  American  patriotism,  in  order  that  some  enduring 
memorial  may  be  erected  in  this  building  in  commemoration 
of  this  event. 

The  services  of  Lincoln  are  so  wide  and  so  varied  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  review  them,  even  were  I  able  to 
do  so.  In  this  presence  it  would  be  both  unnecessary  and 
presumptuous  to  attempt  it.  The  life  of  Lincoln  attracts  us 
from  whatever  direction  we  approach  him.  As  a  man  he  was 
all-comprehensive  in  his  sympathies  and  in  his  appeal  to  the 
people.  Before  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  as  a  business  man 
be  exampled  the  highest  commercial  integrity — so  much  so, 
that  it  was  thought  at  the  time  that  he  was  almost  finical  in 
his  ideas  on  the  subject ;  but  to-day  is  realized  the  inspiration 
his  sterling  honesty  has  been  to  thousands  of  young  men  enter 
ing  upon  commercial  careers. 

As  a  lawyer  we  know  that  he  stood  for  the  highest  standards 
of  the  profession.  He  was  a  constant  advocate  before  this 
Court  during  the  years  preceding  his  entrance  upon  the  larger 
duties  of  national  life.  His  name  frequently  appears  in  the 
volumes  of  this  Court  from  the  December  term,  1840,  to  the 
'January  term,  1860.  The  judgment  of  the  bar  which  knew 
him  was  eloquently  expressed  in  an  address  before  the  full 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  Ottawa,  on  May  3,  1865,  by 


202  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  Hon.  J.  D.  Caton,  formerly  Chief  Justice,  who  presented 
a  Memorial  which  was  spread  upon  your  records  and  which 
appears  in  the  thirty-seventh  of  Illinois. 

Lincoln  as  a  man,  I  repeat,  was  all-comprehensive  in  his 
appeal.  As  between  man  and  man  he  stood  for  equality  of 
rights.  He  knew  no  church,  he  knew  no  faction,  he  knew  no 
section — no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West.  He  knew 
only  the  Union.  He  had  no  racial  antipathies.  His  life  was 
given  to  the  working  out  of  justice  so  far  as  he  knew  it,  and 
we  can  only  marvel  that  he  knew  it  so  well.  It  is,  therefore, 
especially  appropriate  that  this  Court  should  take  fitting 
recognition  of  his  life. 

Lincoln,  perhaps  as  no  other  man,  made  his  appeal  to  the 
people  as  a  whole.  He  is,  in  fact,  the  prototype  of  American 
citizenship — the  ideal  of  the  nation  realized.  It  has  been  said 
that  he  is  "the  first  American,"  and  truly  so,  for  in  him  for 
the  first  time  were  embodied  the  ideals  which  we  all  believe 
should  go  to  make  up  American  manhood,  and  to  him  we  look 
for  inspiration  for  the  upbuilding  of  that  manhood  and  the 
inculcation  of  those  ideals  in  the  citizenship  of  the  future. 

"What  better  tribute  could  be  paid  to  Lincoln  and  the 
spirit  that  guided  and  directed  his  private  life  and  professional 
and  public  career,  than  to  spread  upon  the  records  of  this 
Court  that  immortal  definition  which  he  gave  at  Alton  of 
the  eternal  issue  in  life's  struggle  and  to  recognize  the  truth 
that  he  ever  chose  the  right  ?  He  there  said : 

"That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in  this 
country  when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be 
silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  principles — right  and 
wrong — throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  two  principles  that  have 
stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time  and  will  ever  continue  to 
struggle.  The  one  is  the  common  right  of  humanity,  and  the  other  the 
'divine  right  of  kings.'  It  is  the  same  principle  in  whatever  shape  it 
develops  itself." 

Let  these  words  stand  as  our  tribute  to  the  life  of  this  man, 
— citizen  of  Illinois,  lawyer  of  this  bar,  greatest  son  of  the 
State  and  Nation,  the  apotheosis  of  American  manhood. 


LINCOLN'S  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY 

JUSTICE   HAND 

IN  the  public  mind  the  fame  of  Lincoln  has  in  the  past 
rested,  and  will  in  the  future  largely  rest,  upon  his  con 
duct  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  the  liberation  of  the  black 
men  from  bondage,  and  the  preservation  of  the  union  of  the 
States ;  and  by  reason  of  the  great  height  to  which,  as  a  patriot 
and  statesman,  he  attained,  the  fact  that  he  was  a  great  law 
yer  when  elected  President  has  been  largely  overlooked ;  and 
the  further  fact  that  the  training  and  development  which 
enabled  him  to  meet  and  solve  the  great  questions  which  con 
fronted  him  during  the  years  that  intervened  between  the 
firing  upon  Fort  Sumter  and  the  surrender  at  Richmond  had 
been  acquired  while  he  was  practising  law  in  the  courts  of 
Illinois  has  generally  been  lost  sight  of  by  the  people. 
Some  of  his  biographers,  even,  have  passed  over,  with  but  little 
note,  the  great  work  of  preparation  in  which  he  was  engaged 
in  his  law  office  and  in  the  courts  where  he  practised  from 
1837  to  1860.  I  quote  from  one  of  his  biographers,  who  says, 
"He  had  had  no  experience  in  diplomacy  and  statesmanship. 
As  an  attorney  he  had  dealt  only  with  local  and  State  statutes. 
He  had  never  argued  a  case  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  he  had 
never  studied  international  law."  And  we  often  hear  it  said 
by  his  eulogists,  that  without  training  in  statecraft  or  in  the 
law,  he  was  called  from  his  humble  surroundings  by  his  fellow- 
countrymen  to  assume  responsibilities  which  well  might  have 
deterred  the  wisest,  the  most  experienced,  and  the  bravest  man 
who  had  ever  been  called  to  rule  over  the  destinies  of  men  or  of 
nations.  It  has  been  said  that,  in  some  mysterious  way,  without 
any  previous  preparation  either  by  study  or  experience,  within 
a  few  weeks — at  most  within  a  few  months — after  his  election 
as  President  he  developed  into  the  foremost  man  in  modern 

203 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

history.  That  view  of  the  life  of  Lincoln  is  based  upon  a  total 
misapprehension  of  his  history.  Lincoln,  at  the  time  he  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States,  was  a 
great  lawyer  and  a  statesman  of  broad  views,  and  while  in  all 
his  undertakings  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  he  recog 
nized  an  all-wise  overruling  Providence,  he  was  thoroughly 
trained,  prepared,  and  amply  qualified  by  a  long  course  of 
study  and  by  much  reflection  to  perform  the  great  work  to 
which  he  had  been  called,  and  which  preparation  and  reflec 
tion  gave  him,  throughout  his  turbulent  administration,  the 
forbearance  and  wisdom  which  were  necessary  to  enable  him 
to  accomplish  with  a  brave  and  steadfast  purpose  the  great 
undertaking  to  which  he  had  consecrated  his  life. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  Lincoln  reached  the 
high  position  which  he  occupied,  at  once  or  without  the  most 
persistent  and  painstaking  labor,  which  extended  over  many 
years  of  his  eventful  life.  He  came  from  good  New  England 
stock.  He  was  licensed  as  an  attorney,  September  9,  1836, 
enrolled  March  1,  1837,  and  commenced  practice  April  21, 
1837.  Prior  to  that  time  he  had  been  a  farmhand,  a  river 
boatman,  a  soldier  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  a  Deputy  County 
Surveyor,  a  Postmaster,  and  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature, 
and  while  he  then  had  but  little  knowledge  of  books,  he  knew 
well  the  motives  which  control  the  actions  of  men. 

During  his  professional  career  Lincoln  had  three  law  part 
ners — Major  John  T.  Stuart,  Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  and 
William  H.  Herndon.  When  he  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  the  law  the  country  was  new  and  the  people  were  poor. 
The  Courts  were  held  in  log  houses.  There  were  few  law 
books  to  be  had  and  the  litigation  involved  but  little  in  amount 
— the  civil  cases  being  mainly  actions  of  assumpit  based  upon 
promissory  notes  and  accounts,  and  actions  of  tort  for  the 
recovery  of  damages  for  assaults,  slanders,  etc.,  and  the  crim 
inal  cases  generally  involving  some  form  of  personal  violence 
— and  most  of  the  lawyers  of  that  day  divided  their  time  be 
tween  the  law  and  politics. 

When  Lincoln,  in  the  Spring  of  1837,  came  to  Springfield 
to  commence  his  professional  career  he  rode  a  borrowed  horse 


Photograph  of  Hon.  C.  S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois 


February  5,  1909. 


The  celebrations  which  throughout  the 
country  are  to  mark  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  Lincoln  are  an  expression  of  the 
esteem  and  affection  in  which  his  nane  and 
character  are  universally  held  by  the  American 
people  . 

In  this  memorial  occasion,  the  people  of 
Illinois  have  a  special  and  peculiar  interest. 
Here  Lincoln  passed  his  -mature  years  and  here 
he  began  that  marvelous  public  career  which 
has  earned  the  admiration  of  his  countrymen 
and  the  world  . 

It  is  gratifying,  therefore,  to  witness 
the  extensile  preparations  v;hich  are  being 
made  by  the  citizens  of  Illinois  to  observe  this 
great  day  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  significance 
in  the  history  of  our  State  and  country  and  of 
the  movement  for  liberty  throughout  the  world. 
And  I  urge  the  citizens  of  Illinois  to  partic 
ipate  in  these  celebrations  in  their  various 
communi  ties  .   In  Lincoln's  life  every  citizen 
may  find  an  incentive  to  patriotism  and  the 
earnestness  wi th  which  we  join  in  this  tribute 
to  his  memory  will  attest  the  measure  of  our 
devotion  to  the  great  principles  of  liberty 
and  nationality  with  which  his  name  will  be 
forever  associated. 


Governor 

Facsimile    of    Governor    Deneen's    Proclamation 


ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION      205 

and  carried  his  goods  and  chattels  in  a  pair  of  saddle-bags. 
Lincoln  remained  in  partnership  with  Major  Stuart,  with 
whom  he  had  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  until  1841,  dur 
ing  the  most  of  which  time  Mr.  Stuart  was  in  Congress  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  he  made  but  little 
progress  in  a  financial  or  professional  way  during  that  period. 
He,  however,  had  during  that  time  a  number  of  cases  of  some 
importance  in  the  Circuit  Court  and  a  few  in  this  Court. 
The  first  case  he  had  in  this  Court  was  at  the  December  term, 
1840,  and  was  that  of  Scammon  v.  Cline,  2  Scam.  456,  in 
which  he  was  defeated.  That  case  involved  a  question  of 
practice  in  taking  an  appeal  from  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
the  Circuit  Court,  and  established  no  principle  of  any  im 
portance.  At  the  July  term,  1841,  however,  he  did  have  in 
this  Court  a  most  important  case,  the  decision  of  which  was 
far-reaching  in  its  results;  and  the  manner  in  which  he  han 
dled  it,  showed  that  the  future  held  in  store  for  him  a  great 
professional  career.  It  was  brought  in  the  Tazewell  County 
Circuit  Court  by  the  administrators  of  Nathan  Cromwell 
against  David  Bailey,  upon  a  promissory  note  made  to  Crom 
well  in  his  lifetime  for  the  purchase  of  a  negro  girl  named 
Nance,  sold  by  Cromwell  to  Bailey.  The  plaintiff  was  rep 
resented  by  Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  who  at  the  time  of  the 
War  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  professional  career  as  a  lawyer. 
Judgment  was  rendered  upon  the  note  by  Judge  William 
Thomas,  who  presided  at  the  trial,  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff 
for  four  hundred  thirty-one  dollars,  ninety-seven  cents.  The 
defendant  prosecuted  an  appeal  to  this  Court,  where  it  was 
contended  the  note  was  without  consideration  and  void,  as  it 
was  given  as  the  purchase  price  of  a  human  being,  who,  the 
evidence  showed,  as  it  was  claimed,  was  free  and  therefore 
not  the  subject  of  sale  This  Court  reversed  the  trial  Court, 
the  opinion  being  written  by  Judge  Breese  (3  Scam.  71),  who 
held,  contrary  to  the  established  rule  in  many  of  the  Southern 
States,  that  the  presumption  in  Illinois  was  that  a  negro  was 
free  and  not  the  subject  of  sale.  Under  the  old  rule  the 
burden  was  upon  the  negro  to  establish  that  he  was  free,  as 
the  presumption  obtained  that  a  black  man  was  a  slave ;  under 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  new  rule  established  by  the  opinion  of  Judge  Breese  the 
presumption  obtained  that  a  black  man  in  this  State  was  free, 
and  a  person  who  asserted  he  was  a  slave  was  required  to 
bring  forward  his  proof,  which  often  it  was  impossible  to  do. 

It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  in  the  life  of  Lincoln  that 
in  1841  he  allied  himself  with  Judge  Logan.  The  judge,  like 
Lincoln,  was  from  Kentucky  and  was  a  very  great  lawyer; 
not  only  a  great  lawyer,  but  a  good  lawyer — one  thoroughly 
grounded  in  all  the  principles  and  technicalities  of  the  com 
mon  law,  which  at  that  time  Lincoln  was  not,  and  during  the 
next  four  years,  and  throughout  his  association  with  Judge 
Logan,  Lincoln  grew  as  a  lawyer  very  rapidly.  At  that  period 
there  lived  in  Illinois  a  great  number  of  very  able  lawyers — 
Logan,  Stuart,  Baker,  Douglas,  Trumbull,  Davis,  Treat, 
Breese,  Hardin,  Shields,  Linder,  Manney,  Purple,  Knox,  and 
others — many  of  whom  would  have  graced  the  bar  of  any 
court,  even  that  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washington  or  the 
courts  at  Westminster,  in  England,  and  a  number  of  whom 
subsequently  attained  high  distinction  upon  the  bench  or  in 
other  walks  of  public  life.  The  United  States  Courts  and  the 
State  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  were  then  held  in  Spring 
field.  Lincoln  was  immediately  thrown  into  contact  and  com 
petition  with  those  great  men,  and  his  contemporaries  all 
attest  the  fact  that  at  the  time  he  was  elected  to  Congress 
from  the  Springfield  district,  in  the  Fall  of  1846,  he  was  the 
peer,  as  a  lawyer,  of  any  of  them.  Upon  the  dissolution  of 
the  firm  of  Logan  and  Lincoln,  the  firm  of  Lincoln  and  Hern- 
don  was  formed,  which  lasted  until  Lincoln  was  elected  Pres 
ident. 

Lincoln  was,  during  the  time  that  he  was  in  partnership 
with  Judge  Logan,  and  up  to  the  time  this  ambition  was 
satisfied,  anxious  to  go  to  Congress.  There  were  then  living 
in  that  district,  also,  'J.  J.  Hardin,  E.  D.  Baker,  and  Judge 
Logan,  all  of  whom  had  the  same  ambition,  and  it  has  been 
charged,  but  perhaps  without  foundation,  that  the  "Big 
Four, ' '  as  these  men  were  called,  formed  a  coalition,  whereby 
Hardin,  Baker,  Lincoln,  and  Logan  were  each  to  have  a  term 
in  Congress  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  named.  Hardin, 


ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION      207 

Baker,  and  Lincoln  each  served  a  term  in  Congress,  and  Logan 
received  the  nomination,  but  was  defeated  at  the  polls. 

There  is  another  strange  coincidence  with  three  of  those 
great  men.  Hardin  fell  at  Buena  Vista  while  leading  his 
men  in  a  charge  during  the  Mexican  War;  Baker  fell  while 
leading  his  men  at  Ball 's  Bluff,  during  the  War  of  the  Rebel 
lion  ;  and  Lincoln,  just  at  the  close  of  the  War,  lost  his  life  at 
the  hands  of  an  assassin. 

Lincoln  was  not  a  candidate  for  reelection  to  Congress,  and 
upon  his  return  to  Springfield,  in  1849,  he  resumed  the  prac 
tice  of  the  law ;  and,  it  may  be  said,  for  the  next  eleven  years 
he  devoted  all  his  energy  to  his  profession,  and  his  develop 
ment  during  that  period  was  such  that  when  he  stepped  from 
his  law  office  in  Springfield  into  the  executive  office  at  Wash 
ington,  no  man  since  the  time  of  Washington  was  more 
thoroughly  equipped  and  prepared  to  fill  wisely  that  exalted 
position  than  was  he. 

During  that  eleven  years  preceding  the  election  of  Lincoln 
as  President,  he  not  only  rode  the  old  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit, 
but  he  had  a  large  practice  in  this  Court  and  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  and  District  Courts  of  Illinois,  and  was  often 
called  to  represent  large  interests  in  foreign  States.  During 
the  twenty-three  years  that  Lincoln  practised  law  he  had  one 
hundred  and  seventy-three  cases  in  this  Court — a  most  re 
markable  record — and  I  have  found  two  cases  (and  perhaps 
there  are  others)  which  he  had  during  that  period  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Lincoln  was  a  great  jury  lawyer,  as  is  attested  by  his 
efforts  in  the  Armstrong  case  and  the  Harrison  case — both 
murder  cases — and  in  many  other  cases.  He  was  also  equally 
strong  with  the  Court.  For  many  years  he  represented  some 
of  the  great  corporations  of  the  State,  such  as  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  and  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and  when  he  became  a  candidate 
for  President,  the  lawyers  of  the  State,  recognizing  his  eminent 
ability,  almost  to  a  man  gave  him  their  earnest  and  warm 
support,  and  his  nomination  was  largely  secured  through  the 
influence  of  Judge  David  Davis,  Gen.  John  M.  Palmer, 


208  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Leonard  Swett,  Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Richard  Yates,  and  other 
well  known  lawyers  of  Illinois  with  whom  he  had  travelled 
the  old  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit  and  with  whom  he  had  tried 
cases  in  different  sections  of  the  State. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  quote  authority  to  prove  the  great 
ness  of  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer,  the  testimony  of  innumerable 
members  of  the  bench  and  bar  who  knew  him  might  be  cited. 
I  will  only  refer  to  that  of  one — Judge  David  Davis,  of  the 
old  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit,  who  afterwards  graced  with  dig 
nity  and  learning,  a  seat  upon  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the 
United  States.  He  said: 

"I  enjoyed  for  over  twenty  years  the  personal  friendship  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  We  were  admitted  to  the  bar  about  the  same  time  and 
travelled  for  many  years  what  is  known  in  Illinois  as  the  Eighth 
Judicial  Circuit.  In  1848,  when  I  first  went  on  the  bench,  the  circuit 
embraced  fourteen  Counties,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  went  with  the  Court  to 
every  County.  Railroads  were  not  then  in  use  and  our  mode  of  travel 
was  either  on  horseback  or  in  buggies.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln  was  trans 
ferred  from  the  bar  of  that  Circuit  to  the  office  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  having  been  without  official  position  since  he  left 
Congress,  in  1849.  In  all  the  elements  that  constitute  the  great  lawyer 
he  had  few  equals.  He  was  great  both  at  nisi  prius  and  before  an 
appellate  tribunal.  He  seized  the  strong  points  of  a  cause  and  pre 
sented  them  with  clearness  and  great  compactness.  His  mind  was 
logical  and  direct  and  he  did  not  indulge  in  extraneous  discussion. 
His  power  of  comparison  was  large,  and  he  rarely  failed  in  a  legal 
discussion  to  use  that  mode  of  reasoning.  The  framework  of  his 
mental  and  moral  being  was  honesty,  and  a  wrong  cause  was  poorly 
defended  by  him.  In  order  to  bring  into  full  activity  his  great 
powers  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  be  convinced  of  the  right 
and  justice  of  the  matter  which  he  advocated.  When  so  convinced, 
whether  the  cause  was  great  or  small,  he  was  usually  successful. 
He  hated  wrong  and  oppression  everywhere,  and  many  a  man  whose 
fraudulent  conduct  was  undergoing  review  in  a  court  of  justice  has 
writhed  under  his  terrific  indignation  and  rebukes." 

One  of  the  most  important  cases  which  Lincoln  ever  tried 
was  that  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  against  the 
County  of  McLean  (17  111.  291),  which  case  involved  the 
right  of  McLean  County  to  tax  lands  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  in  that  County.  Mr.  Lincoln  represented 


ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION      209 

the  company  and  was  defeated  in  the  Trial  Court.  The  case 
was  carried  to  this  Court,  where  it  was  argued  orally  twice  by 
Lincoln,  and  the  judgment  of  the  lower  Court  was  reversed. 
Lincoln  received  a  fee  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  his  services 
in  that  case — the  largest  fee  which  he  ever  received.  There 
was  some  controversy  over  its  payment,  and  it  was  finally  paid 
after  it  had  been  put  into  judgment.  A  lawyer  at  the  present 
day,  of  equal  prominence  with  Lincoln,  would  doubtless  have 
charged  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  same  service. 

Lincoln,  in  about  1856,  was  retained  by  Mr.  Manney  in  the 
famous  case  of  McCormick  v.  Manney,  tried  in  the  United 
States  Court  at  Cincinnati,  which  involved  the  validity  of 
the  patents  under  which  the  McCormick  reapers  were  manu 
factured,  and  a  claim  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  infringement.  Governor  William  H.  Seward  and.  Hon. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  were  also  retained  in  that  case — Mr. 
Seward  for  the  plaintiff,  Mr.  Stanton  for  the  defendant.  Lin 
coln  went  to  Cincinnati  to  assist  in  the  trial  of  the  case  but 
did  not  argue  the  case  orally.  It  has  been  said  that  during 
the  trial  Stanton  ignored  him  and  that  Seward  was  supposed 
to  have  far  out-ranked  him  as  a  lawyer.  Lincoln,  however, 
lived  long  enough  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  intellectu 
ally  he  towered  above  each  of  those  great  men  as  does  the 
snow-capped  peak  above  the  foothills. 

Lincoln,  a  little  later,  appeared  in  the  United  States  Court 
in  Chicago  in  the  Kock  Island  Bridge  case — a  case  which  in 
volved  the  right  to  bridge  the  Mississippi  River.  It  was  really 
a  contest  between  the  railroads  and  the  steamboats.  Judge 
Blodgett  o£  Chicago,  who  was  at  the  time  of  the  trial  a  young 
man,  later  in  his  eventful  life  told  me  he  listened  to  Lincoln's 
arguments  in  that  case,  and  he  said  to  me  it  was  the  greatest 
forensic  effort  that  he  had  ever  heard.  In  a  nutshell,  he  said 
Lincoln's  position  was,  if  you  have  the  right  to  go  up  and 
down  a  river,  you  have  the  right  to  cross  it.  He  further  said 
his  peroration  was  grand  beyond  description.  All  the  terri 
tory  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  then  practically  unoccupied, 
and  he  said  Lincoln  described  the  future  development  of  that 
14 


210  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

great  territory  in  such  vivid  terms  that  his  language,  to  one 
who  then  heard  it  and  had  now  ridden  through  that  vast  terri 
tory  and  seen  the  development  that  had  taken  place,  almost 
seemed  prophetic. 

In  the  debate  with  Senator  Douglas,  in  1858,  Lincoln  dem 
onstrated  that  he  was  a  far  greater  lawyer  than  Senator 
Douglas.  The  answers  which  Senator  Douglas  attempted  to 
make  to  the  questions  propounded  to  him  by  Lincoln  at  Free- 
port  involved  Douglas  in  a  maze  of  contradictions  and  incon 
sistencies,  alienated  the  South  from  him,  and  perhaps  lost 
him  the  presidency. 

After  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  as  President  his  adminis 
tration  was  immediately  beset  with  many  great  and  vexatious 
questions  which  demanded  immediate  answers.  The  South 
claimed  the  right  of  secession,  and  the  feeble  administration 
which  surrendered  the  reins  of  government  to  Lincoln  had 
sought  to  compromise  with  the  men  who  were  attempting  to 
break  up  the  government.  Lincoln  firmly  denied  the  right  of 
secession.  He  said  that  one  party  to  a  contract  could  not 
voluntarily  abrogate  it.  He  said  a  contract  might  be  broken, 
but  that  it  could  not  be  rescinded,  except  for  fraud  in  its 
inception,  without  the  concurrent  act  of  both  parties.  This 
argument  was  but  re-stating  well-settled  principles  of  law, 
which  he  had  heard  announced  and  seen  applied  time  and 
again  upon  the  old  Eighth  Judicial  Court  when  he  was  prac 
tising  law,  and  his  clear  statement  of  the  proposition  satisfied 
the  country  and  put  the  seceding  States  upon  the  defensive. 

In  the  controversy  with  England  over  the  capture  of  Mason 
and  Slidell  he  upheld  the  principles  for  which  the  United 
States  had  contended  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  the  vexatious 
problem  was  satisfactorily  and  wisely  settled.  When  the 
United  States  Treasury  was  depleted  he  said  the  issue  of  the 
greenback  was  authorized  under  the  Constitution  as  a  war 
measure,  and  when  the  question  of  emancipating  the  slaves 
presented  itself  for  decision  he  also  invoked  the  powers  of  the 
government  in  time  of  war  as  a  justification  for  his  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation. 

All  these  questions,  as  well  as  the  other  great  questions 


ILLINOIS  SUPREME  COURT  COMMEMORATION      211 

which  confronted  him  during  the  time  he  was  President,  he 
met  with  firmness,  with  wisdom,  and  with  courage,  with  great 
forethought  and  forbearance,  and  in  each  instance  applied 
to  their  solution  the  great  principles  of  law  and  justice  with 
which  he  had  stored  his  mind  during  the  twenty-three  years 
that  he  had  been  a  student  of  law  and  a  practitioner  in  the 
courts  of  Illinois. 

I  believe  Abraham  Lincoln  to  have  been  the  greatest  man 
who  lived  during  the  century  in  which  he  was  born,  and  that 
the  appreciation  of  his  greatness  will  increase  with  the  re 
ceding  years.  I  also  believe  the  great  achievements  which 
he  accomplished  and  which  have  magnified  his  name  until  it 
has  filled  the  whole  world,  are  due,  in  great  measure,  to  the 
discipline  and  training  received  by  him  while  an  active  mem 
ber  of  the  noble  profession  of  the  law. 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION 

IT  was  in  Bloomington  that  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois 
was  given  birth,  on  May  29,  1856,  when  Lincoln  uni 
fied,  inspired,  and  so  stirred  the  Convention  with  his 
famous  "Lost  Speech, "  that  even  the  reporters  failed  to  take 
their  notes,  but  were  caught  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  audience 
and  listened  with  wonderment.  Lincoln's  speech  on  that  day 
was  regarded  as  the  greatest  that  had  ever  been  made  in  the 
State,  and  as  making  him  a  presidential  possibility.  There, 
too,  on  the  last  sad  journey  of  the  dead  President  to  his  final 
resting  place,  his  body  lay  in  state  at  the  Court  House,  where 
for  years  the  people  had  been  accustomed  to  see  his  lank 
figure  passing  in  and  out,  crowds  gathering  from  far  and  near 
to  gaze  for  the  last  time  upon  his  silent  face. 

The  City  of  Bloomington,  like  Springfield  and  Chicago, 
felt  that  it  had  a  special  interest  in  Lincoln  and  the  Lincoln 
Centenary,  because  of  Lincoln  having  visited  and  spoken 
there,  and  because  it  has  as  its  citizens  prominent  men  who 
had  personal  touch  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  A  large  and  enthusi 
astic  meeting  was  addressed  by  the  Hon.  Adlai  Stevenson, 
Vice- President  of  the  United  States  under  Grover  Cleveland ; 
by  Judge  R.  M.  Benjamin,  Dean  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan 
Law  School  there,  and  the  author  and  editor  of  several  well 
known  legal  treatises;  and  by  Judge  Owen  T.  Reeves — all 
three  of  these  speakers  having  known  Lincoln  personally,  and 
speaking,  therefore,  from  a  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  times 
and  the  man. 


215 


LINCOLN  THE  STATESMAN 

HON.    ADLAI   E.    STEVENSON 

IN  the  humblest  of  homes  in  the  wilds  of  a  new  and  sparsely 
settled  State,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  one  hundred 
years  ago  this  day.  The  twelfth  day  of  February— like  the 
twenty-second  day  of  the  same  month — is  one  of  the  sacred 
days  in  the  American  calendar.  It  is  well  that  this  day  be 
set  apart  from  ordinary  uses,  the  headlong  rush  in  the  crowded 
mart  suspended,  the  voice  of  fierce  contention  in  legislative 
hall  be  hushed,  and  that  the  American  people — whether  at 
home,  in  foreign  land,  or  upon  the  deep — honor  themselves 
by  honoring  the  memory  of  the  man  of  whose  birth  this  day 
is  the  first  centennial. 

This  coming  together  is  no  idle  ceremony,  no  unmeaning 
observance.  For  to  this  man — more  than  to  any  other — 
are  we  indebted  for  the  supreme  fact  that  ninety  millions 
of  the  people  are  at  this  hour,  in  the  loftiest  sense  of  the 
expression,  fellow  citizens  of  a  common  country.  Some  of 
us  through  the  mists  of  half  a  century  distinctly  recall  the 
earnest  tones  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  in  public  speech  uttered 
the  words,  "My  fellow  citizens."  Truly  the  magical  words 
"fellow  citizens"  never  fail  to  touch  a  responsive  chord  in 
the  patriotic  heart.  Was  it  the  gifted  Prentiss  who  at  a 
critical  moment  of  our  history  exclaimed: 

"For  whether  upon  the  Sabine  or  the  St.  Johns;  standing  in  the 
shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  or  amid  the  ruins  of  Jamestown;  near  the 
great  northern  lakes  or  within  the  sound  of  the  Father  of  Waters 
flowing  unvexed  to  the  sea ;  in  the  crowded  mart  of  the  great  metropolis 
or  upon  the  Western  verge  of  the  continent  where  the  restless  tide 
of  emigration  is  stayed  only  by  the  ocean — everywhere,  upon  this 
broad  domain,  thank  God,  I  can  still  say  'Fellow  citizens'!" 

Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  and  briefly  note  some  of  the 
marvellous  results  wrought  out  by  the  toil,  strife,  and  sacri- 

216 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        217 

fice  of  the  century  whose  close  we  commemorate.  The  year 
of  our  Lord  1809  was  one  of  large  place  in  history.  The  au 
thor  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  upon  the  eve 
of  final  retirement  from  public  place,  and  the  presidential 
term  of  James  Madison  just  beginning,  when,  in  a  log  cabin 
near  the  western  verge  of  civilization,  the  eyes  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  first  opened  upon  the  world.  The  vast  area  stretch 
ing  from  the  Eocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  under 
the  dominion  of  Spain.  Two  decades  only  had  passed  since 
the  establishment  of  the  United  States  government  under  the 
federal  Constitution — and  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as 
its  first  President.  Lewis  and  Clark  had  but  recently  re 
turned  from  the  now  historic  expedition  to  the  Columbia  and 
the  Oregon — an  expedition  fraught  with  momentous  conse 
quence  to  the  oncoming  generations  of  the  Republic.  Only 
five  years  had  passed  since  President  Jefferson  had  purchased 
from  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  for  fifteen  millions  of  dollars, 
the  Louisiana  country  extending  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  frozen  lakes — out  of  which  were  to  be  carved  six 
teen  magnificent  States  to  become  enduring  parts  of  the 
American  Republic.  From  the  early  colonial  settlements  that 
fringed  the  Atlantic  a  tide  of  hardy  emigration  was  setting 
in  to  the  Westward,  and,  regardless  of  privation  and  danger, 
laying  the  sure  foundation  for  future  commonwealths.  Four 
States  only  had  been  admitted  into  the  federal  Union,  and 
the  population  of  the  entire  country  was  less  than  that  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to-day.  This  same  year  witnessed  the 
first  organization  of  Illinois  into  a  distinct  political  com 
munity  and  its  creation  by  Act  of  Congress  as  t '  the  Territory 
of  Illinois/'  with  a  white  population  less  than  one-twentieth 
of  that  of  this  good  County  to-day.  The  United  States  hav 
ing  barely  escaped  a  war  with  France — our  ally  in  securing 
independence — was  earnestly  struggling  for  distinct  place 
among  the  nations. 

No  less  significant,  and  fraught  with  deep  consequences, 
were  events  transpiring  in  the  old  world.  The  year  1809 
witnessed  the  birth  of  Darwin  and  Gladstone.  The  despot 
ism  of  the  dark  ages  still  brooded  over  continental  Europe, 


218  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  whatever  savored  of  popular  rule — even  -in  its  mildest 
form — was  yet  in  the  distant  future.  Alexander  the  First 
was  on  the  throne  of  Russia — and  her  millions  of  serfs  op 
pressed  as  by  the  iron  hand  of  the  Caesars.  The  splendid 
German  Empire  of  to-day  had  no  place  on  the  map  of  the 
world;  its  present  powerful  constituencies  were  antagonistic 
provinces  and  warring  independent  cities.  Napoleon  Bona 
parte — "calling  Fate  into  the  lists," — by  a  succession  of 
victories  unparalleled  in  history,  had  overturned  thrones, 
compelled  kings  upon  bended  knee  to  sue  for  peace,  substi 
tuted  those  of  his  own  household  for  dynasties  that  reached 
back  the  entire  length  of  human  history,  and  with  his  star  still 
in  the  ascendant,  disturbed  by  no  forecast  of  the  horrid  night 
mare  of  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  "with  legions  scattered 
by  the  artillery  of  the  snows  and  the  fierce  cavalry  of  the 
winds/'  tortured  by  no  dream  of  Leipsic,  of  Elba,  of  Water 
loo,  of  St.  Helena — still  the  ' '  man  of  destiny ' '  was  relentlessly 
pursuing  the  ignis  fatuus  of  universal  empire. 

The  year  that  witnessed  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
witnessed  the  gathering  of  the  disturbing  elements  that  were 
to  precipitate  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country. 
England — with  George  the  Third  upon  the  throne — by  in 
sulting  and  cruel  search  of  American  vessels  upon  the  high 
seas,  was  rendering  inevitable  the  declaration  of  war  by  Con 
gress — a  war  of  humiliation  upon  our  part  by  the  disgraceful 
surrender  of  Hull  at  Detroit,  and  the  wanton  burning  of  our 
capitol,  but  crowned  with  honor  by  the  naval  victories  of 
Lawrence,  Decatur,  and  Perry,  and  eventually  terminated 
by  the  capture  of  the  British  army  at  New  Orleans.  As  an 
object  lesson  of  the  marvels  of  the  closing  century:  an  inci 
dent  of  so  momentous  consequence  to  the  world  as  the  formu 
lation  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent — by  which  peace  was  restored 
between  England  and  America — would  to-day  be  known  at 
every  fireside  a  few  hours  after  its  occurrence.  And  yet 
within  the  now  closing  century — the  Treaty  of  Ghent  coming 
by  slow  sailing  vessel  across  the  Atlantic — twenty-three  days 
after  it  had  received  the  signatures  of  our  commissioners  the 
Battle  of  New  Orleans  was  fought,  all  unsettled  accounts 


AIYIBASSADE    DE    FRANCE 

A 
WASHINGTON 


Facsimile  of  the  Last  Page  of  Manuscript  of  Speech  Made  by 
Ambassador  Jusserand  at  Springfield 


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Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson  of  Illinois, 
Ex- Vice- President  of  the  United  States 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        219 

eternally  squared  between  America  and  Great  Britain,  and 
the  United  States,  by  valor  no  less  than  by  diplomacy,  exalted 
to  honored  and  enduring  place  among  the  nations. 

The  fifty- six  years  that  compassed  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  were  years  of  transcendent  significance  to  our  coun 
try.  While  yet  in  his  rude  cradle,  the  African  slave  trade 
had  just  terminated  by  constitutional  inhibition.  While  Lin 
coln  was  still  in  attendance  upon  "the  old  field  school," 
Henry  Clay — yet  to  be  known  as  the  "Great  Pacificator" — 
was  pressing  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union  un 
der  the  first  compromise  upon  the  question  of  slavery  since 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  From  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  government  the  question  of  human  slavery 
was  the  one  perilous  question — the  one  constant  menace  to 
national  unity,  until  its  final  extinction  amid  the  flames  of  war. 
Marvellous  to  man  are  the  purposes  of  the  Almighty.  What 
seer  could  have  foretold  that  from  this  humblest  of  homes 
upon  the  frontier  was  to  spring  the  man  who  at  the  crucial 
moment  should  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  liberate  a  race,  and 
give  to  the  ages  enlarged  and  grander  conception  of  the 
deathless  principles  of  the  declaration  of  human  rights? 

"Often  do  the  spirits  of  great  events 
Stride  on  before  the  events, 
And  in  to-day  already  walks  to-morrow." 

The  first  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  noted  the  hour 
of  the  "breaking  with  the  past."  It  was  a  period  of  gloom, 
when  the  very  foundations  were  shaken,  when  no  man  could 
foretell  the  happening  of  the  morrow,  when  strong  men  trem 
bled  at  the  possibility  of  the  destruction  of  our  government. 

Pause  a  moment,  my  countrymen,  and  recall  the  man  who, 
under  the  conditions  mentioned,  on  the  fourth  of  March, 
1861,  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  great  office  to  which  he 
had  been  chosen.  He  came  from  the  common  walks  of  life — 
from  what  in  other  countries  would  be  called  the  great  middle 
class.  His  early  home  was  one  of  the  humblest,  where  he 
was  a  stranger  to  the  luxuries,  and  to  many  of  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life.  His  opportunities  for  education  were  only 


220  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

such  as  were  common  in  the  remote  habitations  of  our  West 
ern  country  one  century  ago. 

Under  such  conditions  began  a  career  that  in  grandeur 
and  achievement  has  but  a  single  counterpart  in  our  history. 
And  what  a  splendid  commentary  this  upon  our  free  institu 
tions — upon  the  sublime  underlying  principle  of  popular  gov 
ernment!  How  inspiring  to  the  youth  of  high  aims  every 
incident  of  the  pathway  that  led  from  the  frontier  cabin  to 
the  executive  mansion — from  the  humblest  position  to  the 
most  exalted  yet  attained  by  man !  In  no  other  country  than 
ours  could  such  attainment  have  been  possible  for  the  boy 
whose  hands  were  inured  to  toil,  whose  bread  was  eaten  under 
the  hard  conditions  that  poverty  imposes,  whose  only  heritage 
was  brain,  integrity,  lofty  ambition,  and  indomitable  purpose. 
Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the  man  of  whom  I  speak  pos 
sessed  an  integrity  that  could  know  no  temptation,  a  purity 
of  life  that  was  never  questioned,  a  patriotism  that  no  sec 
tional  lines  could  limit,  and  a  fixedness  of  purpose  that  knew 
no  shadow  of  turning. 

The  decade  extending  from  our  first  treaty  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain  to  the  inauguration  of  Washington  has  been 
truly  denominated  the  critical  period  of  our  history.  The 
eloquence  of  Adams  and  Henry  had  precipitated  revolution; 
the  unfaltering  courage  of  Washington  and  his  comrades  had 
secured  independence ;  but  the  more  difficult  task  of  garnering 
up  the  fruits  of  victory  by  stable  government  was  yet  to  be 
achieved.  The  hour  for  the  constructive  statesman  had  ar 
rived,  and  James  Madison  and  his  associates — equal  to  the 
emergency — formulated  the  Federal  Constitution. 

No  less  critical  was  the  period  that  bounded  the  active  life 
of  the  man  whose  memory  we  honor  to-day.  One  perilous 
question  to  national  unity — for  near  three-quarters  of  a  cen 
tury  the  subject  of  repeated  compromise  by  patriotic  states 
men,  the  apple  of  discord  producing  sectional  antagonism, 
whose  shadow  had  darkened  our  national  pathway  from  the 
beginning — was  now  for  weal  or  woe  to  find  determination. 
Angry  debate  in  senate  and  upon  the  forum  was  now  hushed, 
and  the  supreme  question  that  took  hold  of  national  life  was 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        221 

to  find  enduring  arbitrament  in  the  dread  tribunal 
of  war. 

It  was  well  in  such  an  hour — with  such  tremendous  issues 
in  the  balance — that  a  steady  hand  was  at  the  helm;  that 
a  conservative  statesman — one  whose  mission  was  to  save, 
not  to  destroy — was  in  the  high  place  of  responsibility  and 
power.  It  booted  little,  then,  that  he  was  untaught  of  schools, 
unskilled  in  the  ways  of  courts,  but  it  was  of  supreme  moment 
that  he  could  touch  responsive  chords  in  the  great  American 
heart;  all-important  that  his  very  soul  yearned  for  the 
preservation  of  the  government  established  through  the  toil 
and  sacrifice  of  the  generation  that  had  gone.  How  hopeless 
the  Republic  in  that  dark  hour  had  its  destiny  hung  upon 
the  statecraft  of  Tallyrand,  the  eloquence  of  Mirabeau,  or  the 
genius  of  Napoleon! 

Fortunate,  indeed,  that  the  ark  of  our  covenant  was  then 
borne  by  the  plain  brave  man  of  conciliatory  spirit  and  kind 
words,  and  whose  heart,  as  Emerson  said,  "Was  as  large  as 
the  world  but  nowhere  had  room  for  the  memory  of  wrong ! ' ' 

Nobler  words  have  never  fallen  from  human  lips  than  the 
closing  sentences  of  his  First  Inaugural  in  one  of  the  pivotal 
days  of  human  history — immediately  upon  taking  the  oath 
to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  country : 

"I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break 
our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth 
stone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature." 

In  the  light  of  what  we  now  know  so  well,  nothing  is  haz 
arded  in  saying  that  the  death  of  no  man  has  been  to  this 
country  so  irreparable  a  loss — one  so  grievous  to  be  borne — • 
as  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  When  Washington  died  his 
work  was  done,  his  life  well  rounded  out — save  one,  the  years 
allotted  had  been  passed.  Not  so  with  Lincoln.  To  him  a 
grander  task  was  yet  in  waiting — one  no  other  could  so  well 
perform.  The  assassin's  pistol  proved  the  veritable  Pan- 


222  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

dora's  box  from  which  sprung  evils  untold — whose  consequen 
ces  have  never  been  measured — to  one-third  of  the  States  of 
our  Union.  But  for  his  untimely  death,  how  the  current  of 
history  might  have  been  changed — and  many  a  sad  chapter 
remained  unwritten!  How  earnestly  he  desired  a  restored 
Union,  and  that  the  blessings  of  peace  and  of  concord  should 
be  the  common  heritage  of  every  section,  is  known  to  all. 

When  in  the  loom  of  time  have  such  words  been  heard 
above  the  din  of  fierce  conflict  as  his  sublime  utterances  but  a 
brief  time  before  his  tragic  death: 

"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  for 
the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the 
work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who 
shall  have  borne  the  battle  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do 
all  which  may  achieve  a  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  among  all 
nations." 

No  fitter  occasion  than  this  can  ever  arise  in  which  to 
refer  to  two  historical  events  that  at  a  crucial  moment  tested 
to  the  utmost  the  safe  and  far-seeing  statesmanship  of  Pres 
ident  Lincoln.  The  first  was  the  seizure  upon  the  high  seas 
of  Mason  and  Slidell,  the  accredited  representatives  from  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  respectively  to  the  Courts  of  England 
and  of  France.  The  seizure  was  in  November,  1861,  by 
Capt.  Wilkes  of  our  Navy — and  the  envoys  named  were 
taken  by  him  from  the  Trent,  a  mail-carrying  steamer  of  the 
British  Government.  The  act  of  Capt.  Wilkes  met  with 
enthusiastic  commendation  throughout  the  entire  country ;  he 
was  voted  the  thanks  of  Congress  and  his  act  publicly  ap 
proved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

The  demand  by  the  British  government  for  reparation  upon 
the  part  of  the  United  States  was  prompt  and  explicit.  The 
perils  that  then  environed  us  were  such  as  rarely  shadow  the 
pathway  of  nations.  Save  Russia  alone,  our  government  had 
no  friend  among  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe.  Menaced 
by  the  peril  of  the  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
by  England  and  France — with  the  very  stars  apparently 
warring  against  us  in  their  courses — the  position  of  the  Pres 
ident  was  in  the  last  degree  trying.  To  surrender  the  Con- 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        223 

federate  envoys  was  in  a  measure  humiliating  and  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  popular  impulse;  their  retention,  the  signal  for 
the  probable  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  by  the 
European  powers,  and  the  certain  and  immediate  declaration 
of  war  by  England. 

The  good  genius  of  President  Lincoln — rather  his  wise,  just, 
far-seeing  statesmanship — stood  him  well  in  hand  at  the  criti 
cal  moment.  Had  a  rash,  opinionated,  impulsive  man  then 
held  the  executive  office,  what  a  sea  of  troubles  might  have 
overwhelmed  us — how  the  entire  current  of  our  history  might 
have  been  changed ! 

The  calm,  wise  President  in  his  council  chamber — aided  by 
his  closest  official  adviser,  Secretary  Seward — discerned  clearly 
the  path  of  national  safety  and  of  honor.  None  the  less  was 
the  act  of  the  President  one  of  justice — one  that  will  abide 
the  sure  test  of  time.  Upon  the  real  ground  that  the  seizure 
of  the  envoys  was  in  violation  of  the  law  of  nations,  they 
were  eventually  surrendered;  war  with  England — as  well 
as  immediate  danger  of  recognition  of  the  Confederacy — 
averted.  And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  this  very  act  of 
President  Lincoln  was  a  triumphant  vindication  of  our  gov 
ernment  in  its  second  war  with  Great  Britain — a  war  waged 
as  a  protest  upon  our  part  against  British  seizure  and  impress 
ment  of  American  citizens  upon  the  high  seas. 

The  other  incident  to  which  I  briefly  refer  was  the  Procla 
mation  of  Emancipation.  As  a  war  measure  of  stupendous 
significance  in  the  national  defense — as  well  as  of  justice  to 
the  enslaved — such  proclamation,  immediate  in  time,  and 
radical  in  terms,  had,  to  greater  or  less  degree,  been  urged 
upon  the  President  from  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion.  That 
slavery  was  to  perish  amid  the  great  upheaval,  became  in  time 
the  solemn  conviction  of  all  thoughtful  men.  Meanwhile  there 
were  divided  counsels  among  the  earnest  supporters  of  the 
President  as  to  the  time  the  masterful  act — "that  could  know 
no  backward  steps" — should  be  taken.  Unmoved  amid  di 
vided  counsels — and  at  times  fierce  dissensions — the  calm, 
far-seeing  Executive  upon  whom  was  cast  the  tremendous 
responsibility,  patiently  bided  his  time.  Events  that  are 


224  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

now  the  masterful  theme  of  history  crowded  in  rapid  succes 
sion,  the  opportune  moment  arrived,  the  hour  struck,  the 
Proclamation — that  has  no  counterpart — fell  upon  the  ears 
of  the  startled  world,  and  as  by  the  interposition  of  a  mightier 
hand,  a  race  was  lifted  out  of  the  depths  of  bondage. 

To  the  one  man  at  the  helm  seems  to  have  been  given  to 
know  "the  day  and  the  hour."  At  the  crucial  moment  in 
one  of  the  exalted  days  of  human  history,  * '  He  sounded  forth 
the  trumpet  that  has  never  called  retreat. ' ' 

My  fellow-citizens,  the  men  who  knew  Abraham  Lincoln, 
who  saw  him  face  to  face,  who  heard  his  voice  in  public  as 
semblage,  have,  with  few  exceptions,  passed  to  the  grave. 
Another  generation  is  upon  the  busy  stage.  The  book  has 
forever  closed  upon  the  dread  pageant  of  civil  strife.  Sec 
tional  animosities,  thank  God,  belong  now  only  to  the  past. 
The  mantle  of  peace  is  over  our  entire  land  and  prosperity 
within  our  borders. 

Through  the  instrumentality — in  no  small  measure — of  the 
man  whose  memory  we  now  honor,  the  government  established 
by  our  fathers,  untouched  by  the  finger  of  Time,  has  de 
scended  to  us.  The  responsibility  of  its  preservation  and 
transmission  rests  upon  the  successive  generations  as  they 
shall  come  and  go.  To-day,  at  this  auspicious  hour — sacred  to 
the  memory  of  Lincoln — let  us,  his  countrymen,  inspired  by 
the  sublime  lessons  of  his  wondrous  life,  and  grateful  to  God 
for  all  He  has  vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  and  to  us  in  the 
past,  take  courage  and  turn  our  faces  resolutely,  hopefully, 
trustingly  to  the  future.  I  know  of  no  words  more  fitting 
with  which  to  close  this  humble  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  than  those  inscribed  upon  the  monument  of 
Moliere:  " Nothing  was  wanting  to  his  glory;  he  was  wanting 
to  ours,." 


LINCOLN  THE  LAWYER,  AND  HIS  BLOOMINGTON 
SPEECHES 

R.    M.    BENJAMIN 

MY  personal  acquaintance  with  Abraham  Lincoln  began 
in  1856  and  continued  until  his  election  to  the  presi 
dency  in  1860.     Accordingly,  my  remarks  on  this  occasion 
will  be  confined  to  that  period. 

I  shall  first  speak  of  Lincoln,  the  lawyer,  and  then  of  his  two 
principal  Bloomington  speeches — one  of  them  in  Major's  Hall 
on  May  26,  1856,  and  the  other  in  the  Court  House  square 
on  September  4,  1858. 

I  began  the  study  of  law  at  the  Harvard  Law  School  in 
1854,  came  to  Bloomington  in  April,  1856,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  on  an  examination  certificate  signed  by  Lin 
coln,  and  in  October  of  the  same  year,  began  the  prac 
tice  of  law  in  company  with  Gridley  and  Wickizer.  They 
were  both  old-time  Whigs — political  associates  and  sup 
porters  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Gen.  Gridley  had  served  as  a  Rep 
resentative,  and  later  as  a  Senator,  in  the  State  Legislature, 
and  was  at  the  time  (1856)  one  of  the  five  members  of  the 
State  Central  Committee  of  the  new  party  just  organized 
and  known  at  first  as  the  Anti-Nebraska  Party.  Mr.  Wickizer 
had  been  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Bloomington,  and  at  the  No 
vember  election,  1856,  was  elected  the  Representative  of  this 
legislative  district.  During  the  four  years  between  the  Spring 
of  1856  and  the  Spring  of  1860,  Lincoln  was  a  regular  at 
tendant  at  the  sessions  of  the  McLean  County  Circuit  Court. 

He  sometimes,  in  important  cases,  assisted  us,  and  he  fre 
quently  visited  the  office  for  consultation  with  Gridley  and 
Wickizer  on  political  matters. 

In  1856,  there  were  published  only  sixteen  volumes  of  the 
Illinois  Supreme  Court  Reports.     There  are  now  two  hundred 
is  225 


226  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  thirty-five  volumes  of  these  Reports.  Previous  to  that 
time,  and  up  to  1860 — during  all  the  period  that  Lincoln  was 
a  practising  lawyer — causes  were  tried  on  principle  rather 
than  precedent.  Those  who  followed  Judge  David  Davis  as 
he  went  from  county  to  county  holding  court  on  the  "Old 
Eighth  Circuit/'  when  the  published  reports  were  so  few  and 
the  jurisprudence  of  Illinois  was  in  its  formative  state,  were 
naturally  compelled  in  the  trial  of  causes  to  base  their  argu 
ments  to  the  Court  and  jury  upon  the  solid  foundation  of 
right  and  justice.  Instead  of  citing  a  great  number  of  alleged 
similar  cases,  and  spending  their  time  in  long  arguments  to 
show  the  analogy  between  them  and  the  one  at  bar,  they  would 
apply  to  the  transaction  in  controversy  the  test  of  reason, 
and  appeal  to  that  faculty  by  which  we  distinguish  truth 
from  falsehood  and  right  from  wrong. 

Why  is  it  that  the  people  at  large,  the  unlearned  as  well  as 
the  learned,  so  uniformly  observe  the  law — follow  its  man 
dates  in  the  indefinitely  varying  circumstances  of  life  ?  Why 
is  it  that  they  are  held  bound  to  know  the  law?  Is  it  not 
because  they  know  the  difference  between  the  true  and  the 
false — between  right  and  wrong — between  justice  and  injus 
tice — between  law  and  violation  of  law  ? 

The  lawyer  of  central  Illinois  who  "travelled  the  Circuit" 
fifty-six  years  ago,  did  not  carry  with  him,  and  could  not  cite, 
an  array  of  authorities  in  support  of  the  points  he  made,  but 
he  had  to  win,  if  at  all,  by  his  ability  to  marshal  the  facts 
in  evidence  and  by  his  power  of  reasoning  to  carry  convic 
tion  of  the  righteousness  of  his  client's  cause.  The  school 
of  law  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln,  John  T.  Stuart,  Leonard 
Swett,  and  Lawrence  Weldon  were  trained,  was  a  school,  not 
merely  of  oratory,  but  also  of  logic  and  legal  ethics. 

But  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  Lincoln  never  consulted 
authorities.  Although  he  was  on  the  circuit  a  large  portion  of 
the  year,  he  had  access  at  Springfield,  his  home,  to  the  State 
Law  Library — to  the  English,  the  Federal,  and  the  State  Re 
ports.  And  whenever  any  of  the  hundreds  of  cases,  in  the 
trial  of  which  he  had  taken  part  on  the  Circuit,  were  taken 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  he  would  reinforce  himself 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        227 

with  all  the  authorities  he  could  find  in  the  books.  In  this 
way  he  was  doubly  armed  for  the  final  contest.  He  had  his 
forces  well  in  hand,  with  principles  in  the  fore-front  of  the 
battle  and  precedents  for  their  support. 

Lincoln  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1837.  The  Illinois  Re 
ports  show  that  in  the  twenty-three  years  of  his  practice 
of  law,  he  argued  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  cases  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  He  also  had  a  large  practice  in 
the  United  States  District  and  Circuit  Courts  at  Springfield 
and  Chicago. 

The  best  description  of  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer  that  I  have  ever 
read  was  that  of  Thomas  Drummond,  who  was  Judge  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  of  Illinois  as  early  as  1850, 
and  subsequently  became  Judge  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  for  this,  the  Seventh  Judicial  District,  comprising 
the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Wisconsin.  Judge  Drum 
mond  gives  this  characterization  of  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer : 

"Without  any  of  the  personal  graces  of  the  orator;  without  much 
in  the  outer  man  indicating  superiority  of  intellect;  without  great 
quickness  of  perception;  still,  his  mind  was  so  vigorous,  his  compre 
hension  so  exact  and  clear,  and  his  judgment  so  sure  that  he  easily 
mastered  the  intricacies  of  his  profession  and  became  one  of  the  ablest 
reasoners  and  most  impressive  speakers  at  our  bar.  With  a  probity 
of  character  known  by  all;  with  an  intuitive  insight  into  the  human 
heart;  with  a  clearness  of  statement  which  was  itself  an  argument; 
with  uncommon  power  and  felicity  of  illustration — often,  it  is  true, 
of  a  plain  and  homely  kind — and  with  that  sincerity  and  earnestness 
of  manner  which  carried  conviction,  he  was  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
successful  lawyers  we  have  ever  had  in  the  State." 

This  is  a  true  picture  of  Lincoln,  the  lawyer.  No  one  who 
has  ever  seen  and  heard  him  at  the  bar  can  fail  to  recognize 
the  likeness. 

The  Bloomington  Pantagraph  of  May  14,  1856,  published  a 
call  for  a  mass  meeting  of  the  voters  of  McLean  County, 
favorable  to  the  Anti-Nebraska  movement,  to  select  three  del 
egates  to  a  State  Convention  to  be  held  in  Bloomington  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  May,  1856.  This  call  was  signed  by  John  M. 
Scott,  W.  C.  Hobbs,  J.  H.  Wickizer,  L.  Graves,  J.  E.  McClun, 
Z.  Lawrence,  James  Vandolah,  and  Leonard  Swett.  The  meet- 


228  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ing  held  in  pursuance  of  that  call  was  the  first  political  meet 
ing  I  attended  in  this  State.  At  that  meeting,  Owen  T. 
Eeeves  was  one  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  select  del 
egates.  The  delegates  reported  by  the  Committee  and  ap 
pointed  by  the  meeting  were,  James  Gilmore,  Dr.  Harrison 
Noble,  and  William  W.  Orme.  The  alternates  were,  Green  B. 
Larrison,  David  Cheney,  and  A.  T.  Briscoe. 

The  first  time  I  saw  and  heard  Lincoln  was  at  this  Anti- 
Nebraska  Convention  of  May  29,  1856,  held  in  Major's  Hall. 
I  then  and  there  received  my  first  and  lasting  impressions  of 
the  logic  and  eloquence,  the  power  and  greatness  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

A  great  speech  requires  a  righteous  cause,  an  inspiring 
occasion,  and  a  man  who  measures  up  to  the  full  height  of 
the  cause  and  the  occasion. 

What  was  the  cause  in  whose  support  former  members  of 
all  the  old  parties  gathered  together  in  that  Convention?  A 
clear  understanding  of  the  cause  for  which  Lincoln  spoke 
that  day — the  one  cause  for  which  he  made  all  his  political 
speeches — requires  a  brief  historic  statement. 

About  two  years  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
the  last  Congress,  sitting  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
passed  what  is  known  as  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  and  east 
of  the  Mississippi  Eiver,  it  being  all  the  territory  then  owned 
by  the  United  States.  After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
there  were  formed  from  this  Northwest  Territory,  the  Terri 
tories — and  later,  the  States — of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi 
gan,  and  Wisconsin.  The  sixth  article  of  this  Ordinance  of 
1787,  provided  that  "there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  invol 
untary  servitude  in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the 
punishment  of  crime,  whereof  the  parties  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted."  Each  of  the  Acts  of  Congress  for  the  establish 
ment  of  territorial  governments  within  this  region  northwest 
of  the  Ohio  River  and  east  of  the  Mississippi,  required  the 
government  to  be  in  all  respects  similar  to  that  provided  by 
the  Ordinance  of  1787.  The  Enabling  Act  for  the  admission 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        229 

of  Illinois  into  the  Union,  passed  by  Congress  in  1818,  re 
quired  that  the  Constitution  and  State  government  to  be 
formed,  "  shall  be  republican  and  not  repugnant  to  the  Or 
dinance  of  1787. " 

The  Ordinance  of  1787,  the  Act  of  Congress  of  1809,  es 
tablishing  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  and  this  Enabling  Act  of 
1818,  saved  our  own  State  of  Illinois  from  becoming  a  slave 
state;  for  slavery,  without  such  barrier,  had  already  taken 
possession  of  the  Territory  directly  west  of  us. 

In  1803  we  purchased  from  France  the  Province  of  Lou 
isiana,  which  extended  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  British 
possessions  and  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains.  In  March,  1818,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  of 
Missouri,  a  portion  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  applied  for 
admission  into  the  Union.  Nearly  all  of  this  Territory  lay 
directly  west  of  the  free  State  of  Illinois,  the  Southern  boun 
dary  being  but  a  short  distance  farther  south  than  Cairo, 
and  the  Northern  boundary  being  as  far  north  as  Bloom- 
ington. 

For  two  years  the  halls  of  Congress  were  the  scenes  of 
angry  debates  as  to  whether  Missouri  should  be  admitted  as  a 
free  or  a  slave  State.  The  bitter  struggle  was  ended  for  a 
time  by  an  Act  of  Congress,  passed  March  6,  1820,  which 
enabled  Missouri  to  be  admitted  as  a  slave  State,  and  pro 
vided:  "That  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by  France  to  the 
United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north 
of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  not 
included  within  the  limits  of  the  State  contemplated  by  this 
Act,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  in  the 
punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  parties  shall  have  been 
duly  convicted,  shall  be  and  is  hereby  forever  prohibited." 

This  Act  of  Congress  was  known  as  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise.  It  was  confined  to  the  territory  purchased  from 
France.  It  prohibited  slavery  in  that  portion  of  the  Lou 
isiana  Purchase  which  was  west  and  north  of  Missouri,  and 
allowed  it  to  go  into  the  portion  which  was  south  of  Missouri. 

This  Compromise  was  proposed  by  one  of  the  Senators 


230  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

from  Illinois  and  voted  for  by  both  of  them.  The  two 
Senators  were  Jesse  B.  Thomas  (who  proposed  it)  and 
Ninian  Edwards. 

In  January,  1854,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ter 
ritories  introduced  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  a  Bill 
for  the  organization,  out  of  that  territory  from  which  slavery 
had  been  excluded  by  the  Missouri  Compromise,  of  two  new 
Territories  to  be  named  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The  Bill  as 
finally  amended,  declared  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
"inoperative  and  void."  The  Bill  was  discussed  in  Congress 
for  four  months.  It  was  passed  by  the  House,  May  22,  and  by 
the  Senate,  May  25, 1854. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise — the  removal  of  a 
barrier  against  slavery,  which  had  stood  from  1820  to  1854 — 
was  attempted  to  be  justified  on  two  inconsistent  grounds. 

The  Southern  advocates  of  the  repeal  claimed  that  the 
slavery  restriction  in  the  Compromise  of  1820  was  unconstitu 
tional — that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  gave  to  the 
citizens  of  a  slave  State  the  right  to  take  their  slaves  into 
any  part  of  the  common  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
hold  them  there  as  property — that  their  right  to  do  this  was 
equal  to  the  right  of  the  citizens  of  a  free  State  to  take  and 
hold  there  their  horses  or  any  other  kind  of  property.  Said 
Senator  Toombs,  of  Georgia : 

"The  Bill  leaves  with  the  people  of  the  Territories  all  the  power  over 
their  domestic  institutions  which  the  Constitution  permits  them  to 
exercise.  The  Bill  repeals  an  Act  which  excluded  the  people  of  the 
slave-holding  States  from  the  equal  enjoyment  of  the  common  territory 
of  the  Republic." 

The  Northern  advocates  of  the  repeal  based  their  arguments 
on  what  they  called  "The  principle  of  popular  sovereignty." 
Said  Senator  Cass,  of  Michigan : 

"I  have  made  the  doctrine  of  non-intervention,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  right  of  self-government  of  American  citizens,  so  far  as  it  is  not 
controlled  by  the  Constitution,  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  the 
adoption  of  this  measure." 

He  said  that  by  the  term,  "popular  sovereignty"  he  meant, 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        231 

"the  right  of  the  people  to  regulate  their  local  and  domestic 
affairs  in  their  own  way. ' ' 

From  the  day  of  its  introduction  in  the  Senate,  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  had  been  debated  almost  continuously  for  over 
four  months,  and  then  on  the  day  of  its  final  passage,  the 
leading  Senators  who  had,  throughout  that  long  debate, 
fought  against  the  advancement  of  slavery  into  the  territory 
consecrated  to  freedom  by  the  Missouri  Compromise — the  Sen 
ator  from  Ohio,  Salmon  P.  Chase;  the  Senator  from  New 
York,  William  H.  Seward,  and  the  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts,  Charles  Sumner — during  the  closing  hours  of  that  fate 
ful  day,  spoke  unavailing,  solemn,  almost  prophetic  words, 
expressive  of  their  intense  solicitude  for  the  great  and  pre 
cious  interests  imperilled  by  that  Bill — intense  solicitude  for 
the  peace  and  even  existence  of  the  Union. 

Lincoln,  in  his  brief  Autobiography,  written  at  the  request 
of  Jesse  Fell,  here  in  Bloomington,  "at  a  desk  in  the  old  court 
room, ' '  says : 

"In  1846  I  was  once  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  Congress — was 
not  a  candidate  for  reflection.  From  1849  to  1854,  both  inclusive, 
practised  law  more  assiduously  than  ever  before.  Always  a  Whig  in 
politics;  and  generally  on  the  Whig  electoral  tickets,  making  active 
canvasses.  I  was  losing  interest  in  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  aroused  me  again." 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  fully  what  was  the 
cause  that  aroused  and  brought  together,  in  Major's  Hall  on 
the  twenty-ninth  day  of  May,  1856,  so  many  of  the  great  men 
of  the  free  State  of  Illinois. 

The  cause  can  be  stated  in  one  word — freedom — the  pres 
ervation  of  free  soil  for  free  men  in  all  that  territory  which 
stretches  from  the  west  line  of  the  State  of  Missouri  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  extends  northward  to  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.  It  was  declared  in  the  Resolution  of  the  Con 
vention,  which  resolved: 

"That  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  unwise,  unjust, 
and  injurious  .  »  .  and  that  we  will  strive  by  all  constitutional 
means,  to  secure  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  the  legal  guarantee  against 


282  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

slavery,  of  which  they  were  deprived  at  the  cost  of  the  violation  of 
the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation." 

This  Resolution  was  drawn  by  Lincoln.  It  was  the  text 
of  his  great  speech  in  Major's  Hall — it  was  the  text  of  all 
his  political  speeches.  No  one  has  been  able  to  reproduce 
from  memory  the  line  of  his  argument,  still  less  his  forceful 
eloquence,  on  that  occasion.  This  is  not  strange. 

Some  of  you,  now  here,  have  heard  in  this  city,  as  I  have, 
able  political  speeches  made  by  James  G.  Blaine,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  Lyman  Trumbull,  John  A.  Logan,  Richard  J. 
Oglesby,  John  M.  Palmer,  Owen  Lovejoy,  Robert  G.  Ingersoll, 
Leonard  Swett,  and  Lawrence  Weldon,  yet  I  venture  to  say 
that  none  of  you  can,  to-day,  state  the  line  of  any  one  of  those 
speeches. 

But  from  Lincoln's  other  speeches — always  on  the  same 
text — can  be  formed  some  idea  of  the  clear  statements  of 
facts  and  principles,  the  convincing  logic,  the  impressive  man 
ner,  the  power  and  eloquence  of  his  Major's  Hall  speech. 

Some  of  you,  as  I  did,  heard  Lincoln  speak  in  the  Court 
House  Square  on  the  afternoon  of  September  4,  1858.  The 
proceedings  on  that  day  were  reported  in  the  Weekly  Panta- 
graph  of  September  8.  Let  me  recall  to  your  memory  the 
long  procession,  formed  under  the  direction  of  William  Mc- 
Cullough,  Chief  Marshal,  and  Ward  H.  Lamon,  Charles 
Schneider,  James  0 'Donald,  and  Henry  J.  Eager,  Assistant 
Marshals.  You  saw  that  procession  march  to  the  residence 
of  Judge  Davis,  there  receive  Lincoln,  and  then  counter-march 
down  Washington  Street  to  the  public  square. 

You  saw  the  banners  bearing  these  mottoes,  "Our  country, 
our  whole  country  and  nothing  but  our  country";  "The 
Union — it  must  be  preserved";  "Freedom  is  national— slav 
ery  is  sectional";  "Honor  to  the  honest.  God  defend  the 
right." 

You  then  saw  above  the  north  door  of  the  old  brick  Court 
House  the  representation  of  a  ship  in  a  storm  and  underneath 
the  words,  ' '  Don 't  give  up  the  ship — give  her  a  new  pilot. ' ' 

The  ship  came  safely  into  port,  and  now — this  moment — 


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THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        233 

there  flashes  across  your  minds,  the  lines  of  Walt  Whitman's 
best  poem,  "0,  Captain,  My  Captain." 

On  that  day,  September  4,  1858,  over  fifty  years  ago,  there 
were  not  less  than  seven  thousand  of  you  in  and  around 
the  public  square.  The  Court  House,  Phoenix  block,  Union 
block,  and  the  sidewalks  next  the  square  were  alive  with 
people.  Dr.  Isaac  Baker  was  the  President  of  the  Day,  and 
Leonard  Swett  made  the  reception  speech. 

Lawrence  Weldon,  then  of  Clinton,  and  Samuel  C.  Parks, 
of  Lincoln,  spoke  in  the  evening. 

You  who  heard  Lincoln  then — listen  again  to  a  few  of  the 
words  he  spoke  in  regard  to  the  irrepressible  agitation  of 
slavery  and  his  own  position  as  to  slavery  in  the  slave-holding 
States  and  freedom  in  the  Territories.  Said  he : 

"It  is  not  merely  an  agitation  got  up  to  help  men  into  office. 
.  .  .  The  same  cause  has  rent  asunder  the  great  Methodist  and 
Presbyterian  churches.  ...  It  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  has 
been  reached  and  passed.  When  the  public  mind  rests  in  the  belief 
that  slavery  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction  it  will  become 
quiet.  We  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States. 
We  only  want  to  restrict  it  where  it  is.  We  have  never  had  an 
agitation  except  when  it  was  endeavored  to  spread  it.  ...  The 
framers  of  the  Constitution  prohibited  slavery  (not  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  but  the  same  men  did  it)  north  of  the  Ohio  River  where  it 
did  not  exist,  and  did  not  prohibit  it  south  of  that  River  where  it 
did  exist.  ...  I  fight  slavery  in  its  advancing  phase,  and  wish 
to  place  it  in  the  same  attitude  that  the  framers  of  the  government 
did." 

This  was  a  clear  statement  that  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question,  which  had  rent  in  twain  the  churches,  would  not 
cease  until  the  public  mind  should  rest  in  the  belief  that  slav 
ery  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction — a  clear  statement 
that  we  of  the  North  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery 
in  the  Southern  States,  but  should  resist  its  further  advance 
ment  into  the  national  Territories. 

Viewed  from  a  political  standpoint,  this  was  the  position 
of  Lincoln — it  was  the  platform  of  his  party.  But  from  the 
day  he  made  his  Major's  Hall  Speech,  he  never  lost  sight  of 
the  moral  question  as  to  whether  slavery  was  right  or  wrong. 


234  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

In  his  Alton  speech,  made  on  the  fifteenth  of  October,  1858, 
he  said : 

"That  is  the  real  issue.  .  .  .  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between 
two  principles — right  and  wrong — throughout  the  world.  They  are  the 
two  principles  that  have  stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time; 
and  will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the  common  right  of 
humanity,  and  the  other  the  'divine  right  of  kings.'  It  is  the  same 
principle  in  whatever  shape  it  develops  itself.  It  is  the  same  spirit 
that  says,  'You  toil  and  work  and  earn  bread,  and  I  '11  eat  it.'  No 
matter  in  what  shape  it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a  king 
who  seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of  his  own  nation  and  live  by  the 
fruit  of  their  labor,  or  from  one  race  of  men  as  an  apology  for  en 
slaving  another  race,  it  is  the  same  tyrannical  principle." 

You  will  bear  in  mind  that  Lincoln's  Springfield  speech 
of  June  17,  1858,  his  Bloomington  speech  of  September  4, 
1858,  and  this  Alton  speech  of  October  15,  1858,  wherein  he 
stated  that  the  struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery  was  only 
one  form  of  the  eternal  struggle  between  right  and  wrong, 
were  all  made  before  William  H.  Seward,  on  the  twenty-fifth 
of  October,  1858,  at  Rochester,  New  York,  made  his  celebrated 
"  irrepressible  conflict "  speech. 

Perhaps  the  strength  and  force  of  Lincoln's  reasoning 
powers  and  intense  convictions  is  best  shown  by  a  brief  extract 
from  his  Cooper  Institute  speech  in  New  York : 

"If  slavery  is  right,  all  words,  acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  against 
it  are  themselves  wrong,  and  should  be  silenced  and  swept  away.  If 
it  is  right,  we  (the  North)  cannot  justly  object  to  its  nationality — 
its  universality;  if  it  is  wrong,  they  (the  South)  cannot  justly  insist 
upon  its  extension — its  enlargement.  All  they  ask  we  could  readily 
grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right;  all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily 
grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right  and  our 
thinking  it  wrong  is  the  precise  fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole 
controversy.  .  ,  .  Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford 
to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the  necessity 
arising  from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation;  but  can  we,  while 
our  votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national  Terri 
tories,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  these  free  States?  If  our  sense  of 
duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effec 
tively.  .  .  .  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in 
that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        235 

From  these  extracts  from  his  political  speeches,  and  from 
his  recorded  words  uttered  in  his  two  Inaugural  Addresses 
and  at  Gettysburg,  you  know  that  here  was  a  man  equal  to 
any  occasion — a  leader  on  all  occasions. 

Who  were  the  men  who  were  present  on  the  twenty-ninth 
of  May,  1856,  in  Major's  Hall,  and  heard  Lincoln's  speech  on 
that  occasion?  Several  of  them  in  after  years  received  from 
Illinois  her  highest  honors : — The  President  of  the  Convention, 
John  M.  Palmer,  Governor,  United  States  Senator;  0.  H. 
Browning,  United  States  Senator,  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
Acting  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States ;  Richard  Yates, 
Governor,  United  States  Senator;  Richard  J.  Oglesby,  three 
times  Governor,  United  States  Senator;  David  Davis,  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  United  States 
Senator,  Acting  Vice-President. 

The  Convention  was  called  to  order  at  ten  o'clock.  As 
stated  by  General  Palmer  at  the  meeting  of  May  29,  1900, 
commemorative  of  this  Convention,  "The  Convention  was 
created  by  the  intense  hostility  of  the  American  people  to  the 
extension  of  human  slavery  into  free  territory. 

Palmer  and  Cook  spoke  in  the  forenoon.  Owen  Lovejoy, 
Lincoln,  and  Burton  C.  Cook  spoke  in  the  afternoon.  Palmer 
and  Cook  were  old  Democrats;  Yates  and  Browning  were  old 
Whigs;  and  Owen  Lovejoy  was  a  Liberty  Party  man. 

The  next  issue  of  the  Weekly  Pantagraph  (June  4,  1856) 
gives  the  following  editorial  account  of  the  proceedings: 

"We  never  saw  such  unanimity  and  enthusiasm  manifested  in  a 
similar  assemblage.  .  .  .  Men  were  here  acting  in  counsel  and 
harmony,  who  have  hitherto  been  antipodes  in  political  parties.  .  .  . 
Although  six  candidates  were  nominated  for  State  officers,  not  a  ballot 
was  cast  ...  all  were  unanimously  nominated  by  acclamation." 

Let  me  stop  a  moment  to  say  that  all  the  candidates  of 
the  new  party  then  and  there  organized  were  elected — the 
gallant  Colonel  William  H.  Bissell  for  Governor,  and,  for 
State  Treasurer,  our  own  James  Miller,  in  remembrance  of 
whom  Bloomington  has  named  her  beautiful  park  and  lake. 

Now,  listen  while  I  read  the  concluding  part  of  the  Panto 
graph  editorial — a  statement  so  concise,  so  terse,  so  true: 


236  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"Several  most  heart-stirring  and  powerful  speeches  were  made  during 
the  Convention;  but  without  being  invidious,  we  must  say  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  on  Thursday  evening  surpassed  all  others — even  himself.  His 
points  were  unanswerable,  and  the  force  and  power  of  his  appeals, 
irresistible — and  were  received  with  a  storm  of  applause." 

Some  of  us,  a  few,  heard  that  " storm  of  applause,"  at  the 
close  of  Lincoln's  Major's  Hall  Speech,  and  some  of  us,  a  few, 
four  years  later  in  the  Wigwam  at  Chicago,  heard  the  "thun 
derous"  applause  that  followed  the  announcement  of  his 
nomination  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 

Listen  again  while  I  read  the  editorial  correspondence  of 
The  Democratic  Press  of  Chicago,  written  that  night  at  eleven 
o'clock  (May  29,  eleven  p.  m.) : 

"Abraham  Lincoln  of  Springfield  was  next  called  out,  and  made  the 
speech  of  the  occasion.  Never  has  it  been  our  fortune  to  listen  to  a 
more  eloquent  and  masterly  presentation  of  a  subject.  I  shall  not 
mar  any  of  its  proportions  or  brilliant  passages  by  attempting  even 
a  synopsis  of  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  must  write  it  out  and  let  it  go  before 
all  the  people.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  he  held  the  assemblage  spell 
bound  by  the  power  of  his  argument,  the  intense  irony  of  his  invective, 
and  the  deep  earnestness  and  fervid  brilliancy  of  his  eloquence.  When 
he  concluded,  the  audience  sprang  to  their  feet,  and  cheer  after  cheer 
told  how  deeply  their  hearts  had  been  touched,  and  their  souls  warmed 
up  to  a  generous  enthusiasm." 

Listen  to  the  testimony  of  John  G.  Nicolay,  one  of  the 
authors  of  Nicolay  and  Hay's,  "Abraham  Lincoln:  A  His 
tory": 

"I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  one  of  the  delegates  from  Pike 
County  in  the  Bloomington  Convention  of  1856,  and  to  hear  the  in 
spiring  address  delivered  by  Abraham  Lincoln  at  its  close,  which  held 
the  audience  in  such  rapt  attention  that  the  reporters  dropped  their 
pencils  and  forgot  their  work." 

Governor  Palmer  in  his  "Bench  and  Bar  of  Illinois"  (page 
538)  has  put  on  record  this  statement : 

"At  the  Bloomington  State  Convention  in  1856,  where  the  new  party 
first  assumed  form  in  Illinois,  Lincoln  made  the  greatest  speech  in 
his  life,  in  which,  for  the  first  time,  he  took  distinctive  grounds  against 


THE  BLOOMINGTON  COMMEMORATION        237 

slavery  in  itself.    Thenceforth  he  became  the  leader  of  his  party  in  the 
State." 

Again,  at  the  meeting  in  1900,  commemorative  of  the  Con 
vention,  Governor  Palmer  said : 

"Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  speech  before  the  Convention,  which  was  of 
marvellous  power  and  force  and  fully  vindicated  the  new  movement  in 
opposition  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise." 

General  Thomas  'J.  Henderson  was  a  delegate  to  the  Conven 
tion,  and  afterwards  for  twenty  years  a  member  of  Congress. 
This  is  what  he  said  at  the  commemorative  meeting  in  1900 : 

"The  great  speech  of  that  Convention  was  the  speech  made  by 
Abraham  Lincoln.  His  speech  was  of  such  wonderful  eloquence  and 
power  that  it  fairly  electrified  the  members  of  the  Convention  and 
everybody  who  heard  it.  It  was  a  great  speech,  in  what  he  said,  in 
the  burning  eloquence  of  his  words,  and  in  the  manner  in  which  he 
delivered  it.  If  ever  such  a  speech  was  inspired  in  this  world,  it 
has  always  seemed  to  me  that  that  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  was.  It 
aroused  the  Convention,  and  all  who  heard  it  sympathized  with  the 
speaker,  to  the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm.  I  have  never  heard  any 
other  speech  that  had  such  a  great  power  and  influence  over  those 
to  whom  it  was  addressed.  I  have  always  believed  it  to  have  been  the 
greatest  speech  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  made,  and  the  greatest  speech  to 

which  I  ever  listened." 

I 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  January,  1865,  Mr.  Lincoln 
signed  the  Joint  Resolution  of  Congress,  proposing,  in  almost 
the  very  words  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  and  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820,  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  whereby  slavery  was  prohibited 
in  every  place  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 
Then  his  part  of  the  great  work  was  done.  By  that  Amend 
ment  the  one  object — freedom — for  which  he  made  all  his 
political  speeches,  was  fully  attained. 

His  Bloomington  Speech  in  Major's  Hall  made  Lincoln  the 
Illinois  leader  of  a  new  party  which,  within  one  year,  took 
possession  of  our  State  government,  and  four  years  later 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  nation. 

The  roof  and  walls  of  Major's  Hall  have  long  since  disap- 


238  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

peared.  The  place  where  Lincoln  stood  is  open  to  the  free 
"currents  of  the  air,"  beneath  the  glory  of  the  sun  and  the 
"silent  light  of  stars."  That  speech  was  never  "lost."  Its 
influence  and  inspiration  went  with  the  great  men  who  heard 
it — men  who  had  no  small  part  in  making  this  continental 
nation  an  ' '  indestructible  Union ' '  of  free  States. 


THE  PEORIA  COMMEMORATION 


THE  PEOEIA  COMMEMOEATION 

NO  feature,  perhaps,  of  the  universal  celebration  of  the 
Lincoln  Centenary  so  well  indicated  the  wide-spread  in 
terest  in  the  life  and  history  of  Lincoln,  as  the  participation 
of  the  various  foreign  ministers  to  this  country.  At  the  cele 
bration  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  the  name  of  Baron  Takahira,  Am 
bassador  from  Japan,  headed  the  list  of  prominent  speakers 
and  distinguished  guests. 

At  noon,  a  special  train  convoying  the  distinguished  guests 
from  away  was  met  by  a  committee  of  prominent  Peorians, 
an  elaborate  luncheon  being  served  at  the  Country  Club  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  followed  by  a  reception  at  the 
Creve  Coeur  Club  from  four  to  five  o'clock.  The  Peoria  ob 
servance  took  many  forms  (including  exercises  in  all  the 
schools,  and  at  the  churches),  ending,  in  the  evening  of  Feb 
ruary  12,  with  a  banquet  at  the  Creve  Coeur  Club,  where,  in 
the  big  Coliseum  building — starred  with  thousands  of  daz 
zling  electric  lights,  and  gay  with  red,  white,  and  blue  bunt 
ing — beneath  a  canopy  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  interwoven 
with  the  Sun  Flag  of  Japan,  the  representative  of  the  Island 
Empire  spoke  to  seven  hundred  guests,  of  Lincoln 's  inaugura 
tion  of  "The  American  Diplomacy. " 

Among  the  other  speakers  were  the  Hon.  Charles  Magoon, 
former  Provisional  Governor  of  Cuba,  the  Hon.  Curtis  Guild, 
Jr.,  Ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  Professor  John  Clark 
Freeman,  formerly  United  States  Minister  to  Denmark,  also 
Counsel-General  of  Copenhagen,  but  now  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin.  Professor  Freeman  was  a  soldier  and  officer  in 
the  Civil  War,  serving  from  1862  to  the  close  of  the  great 
conflict. 


>6  241 


LINCOLN'S  DIPLOMACY 

KOGOEO   TAKAHIKA 

I  FIRST  received  your  invitation,  if  I  remember  right,  as 
long  ago  as  March  last.  You  gave  me  ample  time  to  make 
a  good  speech,  but  I  confess  I  have  spent  the  most  part  of  it 
carelessly,  as  I  have  always  thought  that  I  had  plenty  of  time 
to  do  it,  but  when  I  began  to  prepare  my  speech  a  few  days 
ago,  I  found  that  Lincoln 's  greatness  as  a  man  and  as  a  public 
servant  has  been  exhaustively  described  in  so  many  "Lives" 
and  "Biographies"  that  all  patriotic  citizens  of  this  country 
must  be  fully  familiar  with  it.  There  is  no  room  for  any 
additional  remarks  from  such  a  stranger  as  myself.  If,  how 
ever,  I  should  be  required  to  say  what  has  impressed  me  most 
strongly  in  his  life  and  character,  I  would  mention  that  the 
nobleness  of  his  heart  and  the  generosity  of  his  mind,  amply 
verified  in  every  detail  by  acts  and  conduct  which  leave  no 
trace  of  personal  motives  in  his  management  of  public  affairs, 
but  abound  in  every  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his  desire  for 
the  good  of  his  country  and  fellow-beings,  are  fully  illustrative 
of  the  life  and  character  of  a  statesman  idealized  by  all  men 
of  every  nationality.  Lincoln  left  in  his  life  a  great  example 
of  a  public  man,  not  only  for  his  own,  but  for  all  countries. 
So  it  is  no  wonder  that  his  fame  is  world- wide  and  adorns  the 
universal  history  of  the  modern  age,  as  one  of  the  greatest  men 
that  ever  lived. 

Another  feature  of  his  life  which  appears  particularly  in 
teresting  and  instructive  to  me  as  a  diplomat,  was  his  method 
of  conducting  the  foreign  affairs  of  this  country.  The  Civil 
War  did  so  much  to  endanger  the  international  position  of  the 
United  States  as  to  threaten  the  internal  solidity  of  the  Union, 
and  in  so  great  adversity  it  must  have  required  extraordinary 
power  of  foresight  and  precision,  as  well  as  an  unusual  com 
mand  of  resolution  and  courage,  to  handle  such  intricate 

242 


THE  PEORIA  COMMEMORATION  243 

questions  of  foreign  affairs  as  the  United  States  had  to  face  at 
that  time.  It  is  true  that  Lincoln  had  a  great,  able  man  for 
his  Secretary  of  State  in  the  person  of  William  H.  Seward, 
but  if  his  biographies  which  I  have  read  are  to  be  depended  on, 
Mr.  Lincoln  himself  had  often  to  examine  important  diplomatic 
documents  drawn  by  Secretary  Seward  with  great  skill  and 
care,  and  to  amend  them  in  many  particulars  in  order  to  com 
municate  to  the  powers  interested,  the  exact  motives  and 
intentions  of  the  American  Government  in  those  straight 
forward  and  forceful  expressions,  coupled  with  a  sense  of 
moderation  and  dignity,  which  made  the  American  diplomacy 
so  famous  at  the  chancelleries  of  those  Powers.  Those  who 
learned  to  admire  his  method  of  diplomatic  transaction,  called 
it  " Lincoln's  diplomacy" — the  diplomacy  which  upheld  the 
dignity  and  interest  of  the  United  States  when  she  still  re 
mained  in  a  less  important  position  and  under  very  adverse 
circumstances.  Mr.  John  Hay,  who  was  once  President  Lin 
coln's  private  secretary,  said,  in  speaking  of  American  di 
plomacy,  "The  briefest  expression  of  our  rule  of  conduct  is 
perhaps  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  Golden  Rule."  The 
origin  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  as  the  policy  to  be  observed  in 
the  affairs  of  this  hemisphere  is  too  well  known  to  everyone 
to  require  any  explanation.  But  Mr.  Hay's  expression  of 
the  Golden  Rule  as  the  rule  of  American  diplomacy,  attracted 
the  great  admiration  of  every  student  of  international  affairs 
when  it  was  announced.  The  idea  was  not  only  plausible  in 
expression,  but  irresistible  in  effect,  and  it  was  considered 
most  adapted  to  this  great  country  from  the  point  of  view  of 
its  dignity  as  well  as  its  interest.  I  regret  I  did  not  ask  Mr. 
Hay,  when  I  had  to  see  him  so  often,  where  he  obtained  that 
expression.  It  may  be  the  result  of  his  own  conviction  of 
American  diplomacy.  But  it  is  possible  that  he  conceived 
such  an  idea  when  he  was  so  closely  associated  with  the  great 
President,  from  his  method  of  handling  international  deal 
ings  with  all  the  powers,  the  proudest  as  well  as  the  humblest. 
The  history  of  the  diplomatic  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  Japan  and  other  Far  Eastern  countries  is  replete 
with  incidents  of  friendly  acts  on  the  part  of  this  country 


244  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  might  be  considered  as  an  application  of  the  Golden 
Rule;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  such  applica 
tion  of  the  Golden  Rule  in  your  diplomatic  dealings  with  those 
countries  is  being  rewarded  by  the  adoption  of  the  same  rule 
in  their  diplomatic  attitude  towards  you. 

Now,  let  me  make  a  few  remarks  here  about  our  relations, 
in  order  to  show  you  how  the  Golden  Rule  has  been  observed 
between  the  two  countries,  and  also  why  it  must  be  observed. 

I  have  necessarily  to  begin  with  the  remarkable  success  of 
Commodore  Perry's  mission  to  Japan  some  half  century  ago, 
to  open  and  introduce  into  the  community  of  nations  the 
country  which  was  then  only  terra  incognita.  Not  speaking 
of  the  great  debt  of  gratitude  Japan  owes  the  United  States 
for  her  friendly  introduction  into  the  international  commun 
ity,  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  American  Government 
has  been  particularly  careful  in  the  selection  of  its  representa 
tives  in  Japan  in  order  to  accomplish  what  has  been  left  for 
them  to  do  by  Perry 's  mission. 

Townsend  Harris,  your  first  Minister  to  Japan,  was  espe 
cially  remarkable  as  a  man  of  large  heart  and  broad  mind. 
In  regard  to  his  achievements  in  Japan,  a  certain  writer  says : 

"It  was  thus  that  from  the  very  outset,  American  diplomacy  as 
sumed  in  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese  a  distinctive  aspect.  They  learned 
to  regard  the  Washington  statesmen  as  their  country's  well-wishers, 
whose  policy  no  element  of  aggressive  masterfulness  disfigured  or  would 
ever  disfigure." 

The  example  thus  set  by  Townsend  Harris  was  followed  by 
almost  all  American  representatives  who  came  to  Japan  there 
after,  and  it  is  interesting  to  look  back  at  what  has  character 
ized  their  action  and  attitude  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life 
Japan  has  had  to  pass  through  since  then.  She  had,  from 
time  to  time,  to  meet  complications  of  all  kinds,  to  face  revolu 
tionary  movements  of  her  own  people,  to  recognize  the 
political  system  of  the  Empire,  to  remodel  the  administrative 
and  judicial  systems  of  the  country,  to  introduce  a  representa 
tive  form  of  government,  to  revise  the  treaties  with  the 
Western  powers,  and  even  to  fight  two  great  foreign  wars. 


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THE  PEORIA  COMMEMORATION  24,5 

In  all  these  difficult  and  vexed  works  and  undertakings  the 
American  Minister  almost  always  sympathized  with  Japan, 
and  often  took  our  side,  even  by  isolating  himself  from  among 
his  colleagues.  It  is  through  such  friendly  attitude  taken 
by  the  American  representative,  of  course  supported  by  your 
Government,  that  the  American  people  are  deeply  endeared 
to  ours,  and  we  want  to  reciprocate  what  has  been  done  for 
us.  We  have  never  had  an  idea  for  a  moment  of  displeasing 
your  people,  much  less  of  waging  war  against  you. 

It  was  for  this  reason  that  when  displeasure  was  manifested 
in  this  country  in  regard  to  Japanese  immigration,  we  readily 
consented  to  the  adjustment  of  the  question  under  certain 
conditions,  by  limiting  the  immigration  of  laborers  to  the 
minimum  number.  As  a  consequence,  emigration  has  been 
greatly  reduced — notably  since  last  'July — and  it  is  found  that 
during  the  latter  half  of  1908  the  number  of  Japanese  immi 
grants  who  returned  to  Japan  from  continental  United  States 
was  larger  by  twenty-one  hundred  than  that  of  those  who 
arrived  in  this  country ;  and  the  number  of  those  who  returned 
to  Japan  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands  was  also  fifteen  hundred 
in  excess  of  those  which  arrived  there  from  Japan. 

While  it  is  not  certain  how  long  this  condition  of  movement 
will  continue,  it  is  possible  that  every  half  year  hereafter  for 
some  years  will  witness  the  decrease  of  Japanese  residents  in 
this  country  in  about  the  same  proportion.  It  is  said  in  some 
quarters  that  our  laborers  are  coming  to  this  country  across 
the  Canadian  and  Mexican  borders,  but  we  have  already  pro 
hibited  the  immigration  of  laborers  into  those  countries  under 
certain  conditions,  and  there  is  no  ground  whatever  for  the 
apprehension  of  their  coming  through  those  frontiers — except 
a  smuggled  few,  if  any. 

Again,  when  there  was  some  apprehension  of  a  misunder 
standing  arising  between  us  in  regard  to  trademarks,  copy 
rights,  and  other  matters  of  kindred  nature  on  the  Asiatic 
continent,  the  two  governments  at  once  opened  negotiations 
and  concluded  conventions  with  the  view  of  protecting  our 
mutual  interests  in  this  regard.  We  also  signed  a  Treaty  for 
the  general  arbitration  of  controversies  between  the  two 


246  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

countries,  and,  lastly,  as  you  are  undoubtedly  aware,  we  ex 
changed,  a  few  months  ago,  a  Declaration  defining  the  policy 
of  the  two  governments  in  China  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with 
a  view  to  encouraging  the  free  and  peaceful  development  of 
the  commerce  of  the  two  nations,  and  also  to  preserve  the 
general  peace  in  that  region.  Thus  we  have  been  using  every 
effort  not  only  to  remove  all  possible  causes  of  misunderstand 
ing  and  conflict,  but  to  bring  about  a  clear  and  definite  under 
standing  between  the  two  countries  in  order  to  cement  the 
closest  bond  of  friendship  and  good  neighborliness.  All  this, 
I  venture  to  say,  is  the  result  of  the  application  of  the  Golden 
Rule  in  your  diplomacy  and  of  the  adoption  of  the  same  rule 
in  ours,  and  I  most  emphatically  declare  that  so  long  as  the 
Golden  Rule  is  considered  the  guiding  principle  of  our  di 
plomacy,  we  shall  be  enabled  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  peace 
and  prosperity;  and  this  must  be,  I  dare  say,  in  accordance 
with  the  high  ideal  forever  fixed  by  Lincoln's  diplomacy,  and 
which  is  so  energetically  applied  and  propagated  by  another 
great  President,  Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt. 


LINCOLN,  THE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE  * 

EDWIN  MARKHAM 

XI  THEN  the  Norn  Mother  saw  the  Whirlwind  Hour 
V  V    Greatening  and  darkening  as  it  hurried  on, 
She  left  the  Heaven  of  Heroes  and  came  down 
To  make  a  man  to  meet  the  mortal  need. 
She  took  the  tried  clay  of  the  common  road — 
Clay  warm  yet  with  the  ancient  heat  of  Earth — 
Dashed  through  it  all  a  strain  of  prophecy; 
Tempered  the  heap  with  thrill  of  human  tears ; 
Then  mixed  a  laughter  with  the  serious  stuff. 
Into  the  shape  she  breathed  a  flame  to  light 
That  tender,  tragic,  ever-changing  face. 
Here  was  a  man  to  hold  against  the  world, 
A  man  to  match  the  mountains  and  the  sea. 

The  color  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth ; 

The  smack  and  tang  of  elemental  things ; 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  cliff ; 

The  good-will  of  the  rain  that  falls  for  all; 

The  friendly  welcome  of  the  wayside  well ; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea ; 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn ; 

The  mercy  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars ; 

The  secrecy  of  streams  that  make  their  way 

Beneath  the  mountain  to  the  rifted  rock ; 

The  undelaying  justice  of  the  light 

That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  flower 

As  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind — 

To  the  grave 's  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 

That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

*  Copyright,  1909,  by  Edwin  Markfram. 

24? 


248  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Sprung  from  the  West, 

The  strength  of  virgin  forests  braced  his  mind, 
The  hush  of  spacious  prairies  stilled  his  soul. 
Up  from  log  cabin  to  the  Capitol, 
One  fire  was  on  his  spirit,  one  resolve — 
To  send  the  keen  ax  to  the  root  of  wrong, 
Clearing  a  free  way  for  the  feet  of  God. 
And  evermore  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 
With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king. 
He  built  the  rail-pile  as  he  built  the  State, 
Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke, 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 

So  came  the  Captain  with  the  thinking  heart; 
And  when  the  judgment  thunders  split  the  house, 
Wrenching  the  rafters  from  their  ancient  rest, 
He  held  the  ridgepole  up,  and  spiked  again 
The  rafters  of  the  Home.     He  held  his  place — 
Held  the  long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree — 
Held  on  through  blame,  and  faltered  not  at  praise. 
And  when  he  fell  in  whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  lordly  cedar,  green  with  boughs, 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills, 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  place  against  the  sky. 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION 

A  CELEBRATION  which  focused  the  attention  of  the 
-T\  country,  as  a  whole,  perhaps  more  than  any  other, 
was  that  at  the  Kentucky  town  of  Hodgenville,  within  whose 
outlying  country  lies  the  birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
There,  on  the  farm  upon  which  Lincoln  was  born,  which  has 
been  purchased  by  a  National  Association  formed  for  that 
purpose,  largely  initiated  and  made  successful  through  the 
untiring  efforts  and  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Robert  J.  Collier,  the 
log  cabin  in  which  Lincoln  first  saw  the  light  has  been  restored. 
Here  was  held  a  celebration  national  in  character,  and  show 
ing  the  unity,  to-day,  of  the  North  and  South  of  the  Ameri 
can  nation.  With  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  laying  the  cornerstone  of  a  memorial  building  be 
ing  erected  by  popular  subscription  to  protect  the  log  cabin 
in  which  Lincoln  was  born,  this  gathering  typifies,  as  well 
as  any  meeting  could,  the  significance  of  the  day. 

Exercises  were  conducted  under  an  immense  spreading  tent 
with  open  sides,  sheltering  the  Lincoln  cabin  and  the  speakers' 
platform ;  while  the  cornerstone,  a  block  of  gray  granite  about 
three  feet  square,  crowned  with  flowers,  hung  in  the  grasp 
of  a  great  derrick,  awaiting  the  signal  of  the  President,  when, 
at  the  close  of  the  speeches  of  the  day,  it  should  be  lowered 
into  its  place,  and  the  first  trowelful  of  mortar  applied  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  Beneath  the  cornerstone  had 
been  placed  a  metallic  box  containing  copies  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  and  other  documents  of  historic 
value,  contributed  by  the  President,  by  Clarence  Mackay, 
Robert  J.  Collier,  and  Richard  Lloyd  Jones  of  New  York. 

In  addition  to  the  President,  who  spoke  for  the  Nation,  the 
speakers  were : — Gen.  Luke  E.  Wright,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
himself  a  soldier,  who  spoke  on  behalf  of  the  Confederate 
soldiers;  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson  of  New  York,  representing 

251 


252  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  soldiers  of  the  Union  Army;  Governor  Willson  of  Ken 
tucky,  who,  representing  the  native  State  of  Lincoln,  gave 
the  address  of  welcome  to  the  distinguished  visitors  present; 
and  Ex-Governor  Folk  of  Missouri,  who  made  the  address  on 
behalf  of  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  day  was  the  reading  of  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  by  the  "representative  of  ten  million 
grateful  negro  citizens, ' '  Ira  T.  Montgomery,  who  though  now 
of  Mount  Bayou,  Mississippi,  is  nevertheless  a  native  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  is  said  to  have  been  a  slave  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
President  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  cabin  and  the  Lincoln  spring — over  which  a  stone  arch 
had  been  erected — were  decorated  with  the  national  colors. 
Every  visitor  wanted  to  drink  at  the  spring,  and  the  crowd 
had  to  form  in  line,  each  awaiting  his  turn. 

That  the  South  is  not  unmindful  of  the  cause  for  pride 
that  may  well  be  hers  in  that  Lincoln  is  one  of  her  sons,  is 
evidenced  by  the  beautiful  statue  designed  by  the  sculptor 
Adolph  Alexander  Weinman,  and  erected  through  the  action 
of  the  State  of  Kentucky  and  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association, 
in  the  Court  House  Square  of  the  village  of  Hodgenville. 
Here,  Lincoln  is  shown  a  man  of  the  people;  and,  standing 
pedestaled  in  the  market  place  of  the  little  town  which  gave 
him  birth,  he  looks  out  down  the  sandy  roads  which  lead 
into  the  simple  country  where  nature  first  taught  him  the 
lessons  of  his  life,  and  where  soon  will  arise  the  exquisite 
marble  memorial  whose  cornerstone  has  been  laid  by  one 
President,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  whose  dedication  will  be 
at  the  hands,  and  with  the  voice  of  a  second  President,  "Wil 
liam  H.  Taft. 


A  SON  OF  KENTUCKY 

AUGUSTUS  E.   WILLSON 

rflO  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Commonwealth 
A  of  Kentucky — one  of  the  first  twain  daughters  of  the 
Union — and  all  of  her  people,  give  most  cordial  salute  and 
welcome;  and  not  less  to  Theodore  Roosevelt,  first  citizen, 
loved,  trusted  and  honored  of  the  people.  To  all  of  the 
people  of  the  Union  here  splendidly  represented,  our  distin 
guished  visitors  and  guests,  and  to  the  men  of  the  Lincoln 
Farm  Association,  we  give  greeting,  and  rejoice  to  have  you 
with  us  in  Kentucky  and  to  join  you  in  this  endeavor  and  in 
all  the  inspirations  and  associations  of  this  time  and  place. 

We  have  met  here  in  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  know 
for  ourselves  and  to  prove  to  the  world  by  a  record  made  to 
endure,  and  deep-graven  on  these  acres,  that  love  of  country 
and  of  its  nobly  useful  citizens  are  not  dreams  nor  idle  words, 
but  indeed  living,  stirring  and  breathing  feelings.  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  claimed  by  all  humanity,  and  all  time,  as  the  type 
of  the  race  best  showing  forth  the  best  in  all  men  in  all  con 
ditions  of  life. 

Our  whole  country  claims  him  as  the  son  of  the  whole 
Union.  And  Illinois  says,  * '  He  was  mine,  the  man  of  Illinois ; 
here  on  my  prairies  he  ripened  into  noble  manhood  and  here 
he  made  his  home. ' ' 

Indiana,  too,  says,  "He  was  mine.  In  my  southern  hills 
the  little  child  grew  strong  and  tall."  And  each  is  right  and 
true. 

But  Kentucky  says,  "I  am  his  own  mother.  I  nursed  him 
at  my  breast;  my  baby,  born  of  me.  He  is  mine."  Shall 
any  claim  come  before  the  mother's? 

All  over  this  land  the  people  are  meeting  to-day  to  honor 
the  one  hundredth  year's  return  of  his  birthday.  And  we 

253 


254  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

are  met  in  his  birthplace  to  pledge  anew  the  love  of  all  the 
people  of  our  land  for  each  other,  and  to  show  forth  now,  and 
year  by  year,  our  love  and  reverence  for  the  man,  the  soul, 
the  life,  which  more  than  any  in  all  the  lives  of  all  the  earth 
in  all  the  ages,  stands  out  as  the  very  type  and  sight  of  numan 
nature  in  its  best  loved,  and  its  noblest  vision. 

He  came  from  the  rugged  man-making  school  of  poverty 
and  hardship,  with  all  man's  lot  of  toil  and  trial,  of  sorrow 
and  storm,  unto  the  end  that  he,  most  kindly  and  homelike  of 
friendly  neighbors,  should  stand  out,  grand  and  alone,  to  lead 
a  mighty  people  and  a  noble  land  safe  through  a  storm  of 
mortal  strife  and  danger  to  the  blessings  of  Union  and  peace 
under  the  Constitution  and  the  law.  He  came  to  give 
liberty  to  every  soul  in  all  our  broad  domain,  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  all  our  land  for  all  the  ages. 

As  he  said  for  the  soldiers  at  Gettysburg,  "We  can  not 
dedicate,  we  can  not  consecrate  this  ground. "  We  meet  here 
in  Kentucky  on  the  farm  where  he  was  born,  to  be  consecrated 
and  dedicated  in  the  grace  and  beauty  of  his  great  spirit,  to 
the  work  of  upholding  and  keeping  safe  our  Union,  which  he 
so  nobly  led  and  helped  to  save. 

And  when  we  try  to  tell  the  story  of  his  life  and  work  and 
his  prophetic  sayings,  we  find  that  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  as 
one  inspired  of  God,  he  foresaw  all  and  spoke  all  that  we  can 
say  or  think  here,  better  and  sweeter  than  mortal  man  could 
ever  speak  again. 

To  him  more  than  any  other  man  we  owe — and  shall  for  all 
time  owe — the  joy,  the  power,  and  the  gift  of  grace  of  a  mighty 
people  joined  together  as  they  never  were  before,  under  one 
flag  and  one  covenant  of  the  law. 

And  at  last  all  see,  what  only  part  could  see  at  first,  the 
vital  truth  of  the  text  to  which  he  turned  at  Chicago  before 
the  election,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand," 
repeated  on  the  great  seal  of  Kentucky,  "United  we  stand, 
divided  we  fall. ' ' 

Looking  back  now  through  nearly  forty-seven  years  of 
mighty  history,  how  strong,  how  wise,  how  clear,  how  pro 
phetic,  and  how  great  are  his  inaugural  words: 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        255 

"In  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken, 
and  .  .  .  will  constitutionally  maintain  and  defend  itself." 

"This  great  country  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people  who 
inhabit  it." 

"Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the  ultimate  jus 
tice  of  the  people?  Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world? 
In  our  present  differences,  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being  in 
the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with  His  eternal  truth 
and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that 
truth  and  that  justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great 
tribunal  of  the  American  people." 

For  him  there  is  no  need  of  any  memorial  place  or  token. 
He  lives  and  will  forever  live  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people  of 
the  earth  as  the  man  of  the  people,  grand  in  simple,  noble 
dignity,  almost  strange  in  wisdom  and  prophetic  foresight  as 
if  it  were  a  gift  direct  from  God. 

Simple  and  tender  in  life  and  feeling  as  a  child,  ready 
to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  yet  brave  as  a  spirit 
of  truth,  immovable  from  right  purpose,  blessed  with  a  humor 
such  as  to  no  man  else  was  ever  given,  which  turned  aside 
wrath  and  softened  the  rigor  of  mortal  strife,  his  courage  and 
his  work  breathed  life  and  hope  and  faith  until  it  came  to 
pass  that  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  a  mighty  war,  hate  and  strife 
melted  into  the  pure  gold  of  Union. 

Here  are  met  to-day,  with  equal  zeal  to  do  him  honor,  sol 
diers  of  the  War  for  and  against  the  Union,  heroes  of  the 
Union  and  the  Confederacy,  Americans  all,  no  one  less  pledged 
than  the  other,  not  only  by  the  bond  of  the  covenant  of  our 
law,  but  alike  by  the  dearest  feelings  of  his  heart  and  fervor 
of  his  blood,  to  our  united  country  and  its  beautiful  flag. 

Oh,  God  of  our  fathers,  look  down  upon  our  land  and  bless 
us  all,  strengthen  the  bonds  of  our  affection  and  help  us  for 
ever  to  keep  the  covenant  of  '  *  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to 


ABEAHAM  LINCOLN 

HON.   THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

WE  have  met  here  to  celebrate  the  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  one  of  the  two  greatest  Americans ;  of 
one  of  the  two  or  three  greatest  men  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury  ;  of  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  world 's  history.  This 
rail-splitter — this  boy  who  passed  his  ungainly  youth  in  the 
dire  poverty  of  the  poorest  of  the  frontier  folk,  whose  rise 
was  by  weary  and  painful  labor — lived  to  lead  his  people 
through  the  burning  flames  of  a  struggle  from  which  the 
nation  emerged,  purified  as  by  fire,  born  anew  to  a  loftier 
life.  After  long  years  of  iron  effort,  and  of  failure  that  came 
more  often  than  victory,  he  at  last  rose  to  the  leadership  of 
the  Republic  at  the  moment  when  that  leadership  had  become 
the  stupendous  world-task  of  the  time.  He  grew  to  know 
greatness,  but  never  ease.  Success  came  to  him,  but  never 
happiness,  save  that  which  springs  from  doing  well  a  painful 
and  a  vital  task.  Power  was  his,  but  not  pleasure.  The  fur 
rows  deepened  on  his  brow,  but  his  eyes  were  undimmed  by 
either  hate  or  fear.  His  gaunt  shoulders  were  bowed,  but  his 
steel  thews  never  faltered  as  he  bore  for  a  burden  the  destinies 
of  his  people.  His  great  and  tender  heart  shrank  from  giving 
pain;  and  the  task  allotted  him  was  to  pour  out  like  water 
the  life  blood  of  the  young  men,  and  to  feel  in  his  every  fibre 
the  sorrow  of  the  women.  Disaster  saddened  but  never  dis 
mayed  him.  As  the  red  years  of  war  went  by  they  found 
him  ever  doing  his  duty  in  the  present,  ever  facing  the  future 
with  fearless  front — high  of  heart,  and  dauntless  of  soul. 
Unbroken  by  hatred,  unshaken  by  scorn,  he  worked  and  suf 
fered  for  the  people.  Triumph  was  his  at  the  last ;  and  barely 
had  he  tasted  it  before  murder  found  him,  and  the  kindly, 
patient,  fearless  eyes  were  closed  forever. 

256 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        257 

As  a  people  we  are,  indeed,  beyond  measure  fortunate  in 
the  characters  of  the  two  greatest  of  our  public  men,  Wash 
ington  and  Lincoln.  Widely  though  they  differed  in  ex 
ternals — the  Virginia  landed  gentleman  and  the  Kentucky 
backswoodsman — they  were  alike  in  essentials ;  they  were  alike 
in  the  great  qualities  which  made  each  able  to  do  service  to 
his  nation  and  to  all  mankind  such  as  no  other  man  of  his 
generation  could  or  did  render.  Each  had  lofty  ideals,  but 
each  in  striving  to  attain  these  lofty  ideals  was  guided  by  the 
soundest  common  sense.  Each  possessed  inflexible  courage  in 
adversity,  and  a  soul  wholly  unspoiled  by  prosperity.  Each 
possessed  all  the  gentler  virtues  commonly  exhibited  by  good 
men  who  lack  rugged  strength  of  character.  Each  possessed, 
also,  all  the  strong  qualities  commonly  exhibited  by  those 
towering  masters  of  mankind  who  have  too  often  shown  them 
selves  devoid  of  so  much  as  the  understanding  of  the  words 
by  which  we  signify  the  qualities  of  duty,  of  mercy,  of  devo 
tion  to  the  right,  of  lofty  disinterestedness  in  battling  for  the 
good  of  others.  There  have  been  other  men  as  great,  and  other 
men  as  good;  but  in  all  the  history  of  mankind  there  are  no 
other  two  great  men  as  good  as  these,  no  other  two  good  men 
as  great.  Widely  though  the  problems  of  to-day  differ  from 
the  problems  set  for  solution  to  Washington  when  he  founded 
this  nation,  to  Lincoln  when  he  saved  it  and  freed  the  slave, 
yet  the  qualities  they  showed  in  meeting  these  problems  are 
exactly  the  same  as  those  we  should  show  in  doing  our  work 
to-day. 

Lincoln  saw  into  the  future  with  the  prophetic  imagination 
usually  vouchsafed  only  to  the  poet  and  the  seer.  He  had  in 
him  all  the  lift  toward  greatness  of  the  visionary,  without 
any  of  the  visionary's  fanaticism  or  egotism — without  any  of 
the  visionary's  narrow  jealousy  of  the  practical  man,  and 
inability  to  strive  in  practical  fashion  for  the  realization  of 
an  ideal.  He  had  the  practical  man's  hard  common  sense 
and  willingness  to  adapt  means  to  ends ;  but  there  was  in  him 
none  of  that  morbid  growth  of  mind  and  soul  which  blinds 
so  many  practical  men  to  the  higher  things  of  life.  No  more 
practical  man  ever  lived  than  this  homely  backwoods  idealist; 
17 


258  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

but  he  had  nothing  in  common  with  those  practical  men  whose 
consciences  are  warped  until  they  fail  to  distinguish  between 
good  and  evil,  fail  to  understand  that  strength,  ability, 
shrewdness,  whether  in  the  world  of  business  or  of  politics, 
only  serve  to  make  their  possessor  a  more  noxious,  a  more  evil, 
member  of  the  community  if  they  are  not  guided  and  con 
trolled  by  a  fine  and  high  moral  sense. 

We  of  this  day  must  try  to  solve  many  social  and  industrial 
problems,  requiring  to  an  especial  degree  the  combination  of 
indomitable  resolution  with  cool-headed  sanity.  We  can  profit 
by  the  way  in  which  Lincoln  used  both  these  traits  as  he 
strove  for  reform.  We  can  learn  much  of  value  from  the 
very  attacks  which  following  that  course  brought  upon  his 
head — attacks  alike  by  the  extremists  of  revolution  and  by  the 
extremists  of  reaction.  He  never  wavered  in  devotion  to  his 
principles,  in  his  love  for  the  Union,  and  in  his  abhorrence  of 
slavery.  Timid  and  lukewarm  people  were  always  denounc 
ing  him  because  he  was  too  extreme ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact 
he  never  went  to  extremes,  he  worked  step  by  step;  and  be 
cause  of  this  the  extremists  hated  and  denounced  him  with 
a  fervor  which  now  seems  to  us  fantastic  in  its  deification  of 
the  unreal  and  the  impossible.  At  the  very  time  when  one 
side  was  holding  him  up  as  the  apostle  of  social  revolution 
because  he  was  against  slavery,  the  leading  abolitionist  de 
nounced  him  as  the  ' '  slave  hound  of  Illinois. ' '  When  he  was 
the  second  time  candidate  for  President,  the  majority  of  his 
opponents  attacked  him  because  of  what  they  termed  his  ex 
treme  radicalism,  while  a  minority  threatened  to  bolt  his 
nomination  because  he  was  not  radical  enough.  He  had  con 
tinually  to  check  those  who  wished  to  go  forward  too  fast,  at 
the  very  time  that  he  overrode  the  opposition  of  those  who 
wished  not  to  go  forward  at  all.  The  goal  was  never  dim 
before  his  vision;  but  he  picked  his  way  cautiously,  without 
either  halt  or  hurry,  as  he  strode  toward  it,  through  such  a 
morass  of  difficulty  that  no  man  of  less  courage  would  have 
attempted  it,  while  it  would  surely  have  overwhelmed  any 
man  of  judgment  less  serene. 


Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  Adolph  Alexander  Weinman,  Erected  in 
the  Public  Square  of  Hodgenville,  Kentucky,  by  the  State  of 

Kentucky  and  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association 
(Mr.  Weinman  was  a  pupil  of  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens) 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        259 

Yet  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  thing  of  all,  and,  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  America  of  to-day  and  of  the  future,  the 
most  vitally  important,  wasjhe  extraordinary  way  in  which 
Lincoln  could  fight  valiantly  against  what  he  deemed  wrong, 
and  yet  preserve  undiminished  his  love  and  respect  for  the 
brother  from  whom  he  differed.  In  the  hour  of  a  triumph  that 
would  have  turned  any  weaker  man's  head,  in  the  heat  of  a 
struggle  which  spurred  many  a  good  man  to  dreadful  vin- 
dictiveness,  he  said  truthfully  that  so  long  as  he  had  been  in 
his  office  he  had  never  willingly  planted  a  thorn  in  any  man 's 
bosom,  and  besought  his  supporters  to  study  the  incidents  of 
the  trial  through  which  they  were  passing,  as  philosophy  from 
which  to  learn  wisdom,  and  not  as  wrongs  to  be  avenged; 
ending  with  the  solemn  exhortation  that,  as  the  strife  was 
over,  all  should  reunite  in  a  common  effort  to  save  their  com 
mon  country. 

He  lived  in  days  that  were  great  and  terrible,  when  brother 
fought  against  brother  for  what  each  sincerely  deemed  to  be 
the  right.  In  a  contest  so  grim,  the  strong  men  who  alone 
can  carry  it  through  are  rarely  able  to  do  justice  to  the  deep 
convictions  of  those  with  whom  they  grapple  in  mortal  strife. 
At  such  times  men  see  through  a  glass  darkly;  to  only  the 
rarest  and  loftiest  spirits  is  vouchsafed  that  clear  vision  which 
gradually  comes  to  all,  even  to  the  lesser,  as  the  struggle  fades 
into  distance,  and  wounds  are  forgotten,  and  peace  creeps 
back  to  the  hearts  that  were  hurt.  But  to  Lincoln  was  given 
this  supreme  vision.  He  did  not  hate  the  man  from  whom  he 
differed.  Weakness  was  as  foreign  as  wickedness  to  his 
strong,  gentle  nature ;  but  his  courage  was  of  a  quality  so  high 
that  it  needed  no  bolstering  of  dark  passion.  He  saw  clearly 
that  the  same  high  qualities,  the  same  courage,  and  willingness 
for  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  to  the  right,  as  it  was  given 
them  to  see  the  right,  belonged  both  to  the  men  of  the  North 
and  to  the  men  of  the  South.  As  the  years  roll  by,  and  as  all 
of  us,  wherever  we  dwell,  grow  to  feel  an  equal  pride  in  the 
valor  and  self-devotion,  alike  of  the  men  who  wore  the  blue 
and  the  men  who  wore  the  gray,  so  this  whole  nation  will 


260  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

grow  to  feel  a  peculiar  sense  of  pride  in  the  mightiest  of  the 
mighty  men  who  mastered  the  mighty  days;  the  lover  of  his 
country  and  of  all  mankind;  the  man  whose  blood  was  shed 
for  the  union  of  his  people  and  for  the  freedom  of  a  race — 
Abraham  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN  AND  THE  LOST  CAUSE 

HON.   LUKE   E.    WRIGHT 

WE  are  assembled  to-day  upon  the  spot  where  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  born,  to  celebrate  the  hundredth  anni 
versary  of  his  birth.  When  we  look  about  us  and  behold  a 
great  and  prosperous  State,  teeming  with  population  and  all 
the  evidences  of  a  highly  developed  and  complex  civilization, 
it  requires  an  effort  of  the  memory  to  recall  how  crude  and 
primitive  were  his  surroundings  when  his  eyes  first  saw  the 
light,  and  during  his  boyhood. 

He  was  born  of  humble  parentage,  in  a  rude  cabin  of  logs. 
His  entry  into  the  world  was  accompanied  by  no  omens,  and 
no  seer  prognosticated  his  future  fame.  Apparently  his  only 
heritage  was  to  be  a  life  of  ignorance  and  poverty. 

Still,  it  would  be  misleading  to  infer  that  the  future  could 
hold  no  prize  for  him.  The  hardy  adventurers  who  swarmed 
out  from  the  older  States  and  crossed  the  Alleghenies  were 
the  offshoot  of  that  older  stock  of  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish 
which  had  crossed  the  seas  and  had  founded  the  first  colonies 
upon  American  soil.  They  were  a  simple,  God-fearing  people, 
who  lived  their  lives  in  field  and  forest,  uncorrupted  by 
wealth,  strengthened  in  body  and  mind  by  hardships  and 
dangers  endured  and  overcome,  with  imaginations  quickened 
by  the  thought  that  a  continent  was  theirs. 

Whilst  there  were  instances  among  them  of  men  of  gentle 
birth  and  comparative  fortune,  yet  all  stood  upon  terms  of 
perfect  equality,  and  opportunity  for  all  was  practically  the 
same.  Any  substantial  distinction  between  the  greatest  and 
the  humblest  man,  under  such  circumstances,  could  only  be 
one  created  by  individual  prowess  or  worth. 

There  is  perhaps  in  all  the  world  no  fairer  land,  no  territory 
combining  more  natural  advantages,  and  none  more  favorable 

261 


262  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  the  development  of  a  virile  race,  than  that  vast  area  which 
gradually  falls  away  from  the  western  side  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Jefferson 
Davis  were  born  in  the  same  State,  that  their  parents  were 
almost  neighbors,  and  equally  curious  that  in  after  life,  in  a 
great  civil  war,  they  should  have  been  leaders  on  opposite 
sides.  They  began  under  the  same  environment,  and  yet  how 
widely  separated  were  they  in  their  subsequent  lives  and 
fortunes ! 

In  the  Two-Ocean  Pass,  in  the  Yellowstone  Park,  is  found 
a  level  spot  hemmed  in  by  surrounding  hills,  into  which  flows 
a  stream  which  there  divides,  one  part  flowing  into  the  Pacific 
and  the  other  into  the  Atlantic;  and  this  stream  is  typical 
of  the  careers  of  the  two  men.  Davis  in  early  manhood  found 
himself  living  in  a  community  in  which  slavery  was  a  recog 
nized  institution,  and  himself  became  a  slave-holder,  as  were 
his  neighbors  and  friends ;  whilst  Lincoln  found  himself  in  a 
free-soil  State,  where  slavery  was  regarded  as  a  crime. 

From  the  foundation  of  the  federal  government,  the  right 
of  a  State  to  withdraw  from  the  federal  compact  was  more 
or  less  discussed.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  founders 
purposely  pretermitted  any  explicit  declaration  on  the  subject, 
and  thereafter  it  was  regarded  as  an  open  question,  as  to 
which  intelligent  and  patriotic  men  might  and  did  differ. 
This  difference  was  for  many  years  not  sectional,  but  grad 
ually  became  so  after  slavery  became  distinctly  a  Southern 
institution,  and  the  agitation  in  favor  of  its  limitation  or 
abolition  became  a  burning  issue. 

Yet  it  would  be  unfair  to  say  that  there  was  a  complete 
unanimity  of  sentiment  upon  this  subject  on  either  side  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  In  the  border  States  of  the  South 
especially,  the  majority  of  the  people  were  opposed  to  the 
dogma  of  secession,  as  was  demonstrated  by  the  overwhelming 
majority  against  the  Ordinances  of  Secession  submitted  to 
the  people  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  Ten 
nessee  a  few  months  before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

Moreover,  in  these  same  border  States  there  was  a  class 


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THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        263 

sentiment  that  slavery  was  morally  indefensible,  and  that 
some  means  should  be  adopted  looking  to  gradual  emancipa 
tion.  But  the  practical  difficulty  confronting  those  thus  think 
ing  was,  what  would  be  the  status  of  the  slave  when  freed? 
coupled  with  the  feeling  that  to  make  him  a  free  man  depend 
ent  upon  his  own  resources  would,  in  a  vast  majority  of  in 
stances,  be  inhumane  and  decree  his  ultimate  extinction. 
Even  in  the  North  there  was  a  large  element  of  intelligent 
and  conservative  men  who  deprecated  the  agitation  against 
slavery  and  who  had  not  brought  themselves  to  consent  to  the 
thought  of  coercion  in  the  event  of  secession. 

But  the  continued  propaganda  preached  against  slavery,  and 
the  extreme  utterances  of  partisans  on  either  side,  unques 
tionably  by  degrees  had  the  effect  of  drawing  a  clear  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  North  and  the  South,  both  as  to 
slavery  and  secession. 

I  do  not  refer  to  this  ancient  history  for  the  purpose  of  re 
viving  discussions  long  since  dead  and  buried,  but  merely  to 
call  attention  to  facts  which  have  perhaps  been  obscured  by 
the  overwhelming  events  which  followed.  It  can  only  be  a 
matter  of  surmise  and  profitless  speculation  as  to  what  would 
have  happened  had  the  Southern  people  been  left  to  deal 
with  this  perplexing  question  in  their  own  way.  Perhaps 
slavery  was  too  strongly  rooted  to  be  eradicated  save  by  fire 
and  sword,  and  it  may  be  that  in  the  mysterious  movings  of 
a  Divine  Providence  the  sins  of  the  fathers  were  visited  upon 
the  children,  and  that  the  South  paid  the  penalty  for  the 
violation  of  a  great  moral  law. 

But  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  and  I  believe  is  now  being 
remembered  more  and  more,  that  it  was  not  alone  the  sin  of 
the  Southi,  although  its  expiation  fell  heaviest  upon  her 
people. 

In  reading  the  public  utterances  of  Lincoln  during  this 
period  of  bitter  dissension,  nothing  has  impressed  me  more 
than  the  singular  clearness  of  his  perception  that  the  respon 
sibility  for  slavery  rested  upon  all  our  people  and  was  a 
burden  which  should  be  borne  by  all  alike.  There  was  a  tem 
perance  of  statement,  a  respect  for  the  opposite  point  of  view, 


264  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  a  moderation  in  his  positions,  which,  when  the  excite 
ment  of  the  time  is  considered,  is  most  extraordinary  and 
must  command  our  admiration. 

Well  would  it  have  been  for  all  our  people  had  they  been 
able  to  approach  this  burning  question  with  the  same  con 
servatism  and  good  sense.  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  this 
was  to  some  extent  due  to  the  fact  that  his  birth  and  early 
youth  were  in  a  slave-holding  State,  and  that  he  understood 
the  attitude  and  feeling  of  its  people  to  a  degree  not  possible 
for  one  born  and  reared  in  a  community  where  slavery  had 
long  been  unknown. 

He  sincerely  believed  in  an  indissoluble  Union.  He  sin 
cerely  believed  that  slavery  was  a  curse  and  a  great  moral 
wrong;  and  in  believing  thus  he  was  right.  He  was  opposed 
not  only  to  its  extension,  but  believed  the  gradual  emancipa 
tion  was  a  possibility  worth  striving  for ;  and  yet  he  respected 
the  Constitution  and  did  not  believe  in  the  right  to  extinguish 
slavery  by  force. 

In  all  the  speeches  he  made  there  can  be  found  no  word  of 
ill  will  or  malice  toward  the  Southern  people,  and  in  reading 
his  utterances  no  Southern  man  finds  himself  entertaining 
the  slightest  sentiment  of  resentment  toward  him,  or  aught 
save  admiration  for  his  sincerity,  friendliness  and  broad  hu 
manity. 

His  First  Inaugural  Address,  delivered  at  a  time  when 
passion  was  at  its  height  and  civil  war  was  imminent,  is 
pathetic  in  its  appeals  for  peace  and  union.  His  great  heart 
seemed  rent  in  twain,  when  he  finished  by  saying : 

"I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break 
our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth 
stone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of 
our  nature." 

Alas,  that  the  still,  small  voice  of  moderation  and  reason 
was  drowned  in  the  angry  cries  of  determined  men  mar 
shalling  for  a  conflict,  the  magnitude  of  which  few,  if  any, 


Copyright,  Frain-is  1).  Tandy  Company,  New  York 

Birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln  near  Hodgenville,  Kentucky 
(Showing  cabin  before  its  reconstruction) 


THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        265 

appreciated,  and  the  consequences  of  which  few,  if  any,  fore 
saw.  And  yet  there  were  among  the  combatants  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  men  who  felt  the  sweet  reasonableness  of  his  dis 
passionate  statements,  whose  hearts  were  touched  by  his  pa 
thetic  cry  for  peace,  and  yet  who,  caught  up  in  the  rising 
excitement  of  the  time,  aligned  themselves  under  the  stress 
of  circumstances  on  the  one  side  or  the  other;  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  men  on  both  sides  deploring  war,  yet  when  war 
seemed  inevitable,  ranging  themselves  with  their  neighbors. 

It  seemed  the  very  irony  of  fate  that  so  gentle  a  spirit,  so 
sympathetic  and  kindly  a  nature,  should  be  forced  by  the 
stern  logic  of  events  over  which  he  had  no  control  and  for 
which  he  was  in  no  way  responsible,  to  assume  the  role  of 
Commander-in-chief  in  a  sanguinary  civil  war  between  men 
of  the  same  blood  and  the  same  traditions. 

The  years  of  war  and  destruction  during  which  he  was 
President,  whilst  they  plowed  deep  lines  of  care  and  grief 
upon  his  rugged  face  and  wrung  his  gentle  heart,  provoked 
no  expressions  of  bitterness  from  his  lips.  His  many  acts 
of  personal  kindness  to  Southern  prisoners  and  Southern  sym 
pathizers  demonstrated  how  free  he  was  from  the  spirit  of 
malice  or  vengeance. 

As,  in  the  progress  of  time,  it  became  evident  the  Union 
arms  would  triumph,  he  evinced  no  feeling  of  exultation  or 
sense  of  personal  triumph,  but  only  an  anxious  desire  to 
restore  the  Southern  States  to  their  former  place  in  the  Union, 
and  to  heal  the  wounds  of  civil  strife.  He  was  opposed  to 
extreme  measures  against  the  Southern  people,  and  was  pre 
pared  to  stand  between  them  and  the  radicals  of  his  party 
who  clamored  for  exemplary  reprisals  upon  a  conquered  peo 
ple  whom  the  fortunes  of  war  had  delivered  into  their  hands. 

That  he  would  have  succeeded  in  carrying  with  him  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  of  the  North  in  his  beneficent 
purposes  does  not,  to  my  mind,  admit  of  doubt;  and  that 
there  would  have  followed  speedily  a  union  of  hearts  is 
equally  certain.  It  was  indeed  cruel  that  at  the  moment 
when  he  had  reached  the  point  for  which  he  had  striven, 
he  should  have  died  at  the  hands  of  a  hair-brained  actor 


266  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

who  was  in  no  way  identified  with  the  South  or  her  people. 
Still  more  cruel  was  fate  to  the  Southern  people.  They  shud 
dered  both  at  the  dastardly  act  of  his  assassination  and  at 
the  disastrous  consequences  to  themselves  as  well,  which  they 
knew  would  follow. 

The  dies  irce  of  reconstruction  was  the  inevitable  result, 
and  reconstruction  did  more  to  postpone  reconciliation  than 
did  war  itself.  It  was  direful  in  its  results  to  both  sections, 
and  to  the  negroes  in  greater  measure,  if  possible,  than  to  the 
whites. 

But  time  has  brought  healing  on  its  wings.  A  new  gen 
eration  of  men  has  been  born  since  Lincoln  died.  The  ani 
mosities  of  the  old  days  are  ended.  As  we  look  back  across 
the  dead  years  we  see  his  homely  figure  standing  out  clear 
and  large.  He  is  not  awesome  or  repellent.  There  is  an 
expression  of  pathos,  touched  with  humor,  upon  his  face, 
which  draws  us  strongly,  and  there  is  sunshine  all  about  him. 
He  seems  to  speak,  and  we  again  hear  him  say,  "We  are  not 
enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas 
sion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affec 
tion." 

And  thus  hearing,  the  men  of  the  South  can  not  only  look 
back  upon  a  lost  cause  without  bitterness,  but  recognize  it 
was  best  that  it  did  fail.  And  they  can  and  do,  without 
bitterness  and  in  all  sincerity,  join  with  all  the  people  of  this 
nation,  and  all  the  people  of  all  nations,  in  paying  tribute 
to  Abraham  Lincoln — the  liberator,  the  pacificator,  the  great 
American. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  LEADER  AND  MASTER  OP 

MEN 

GEN.    JAMES   GRANT   WILSON 

WITH  pride  and  unfeigned  pleasure,  I  appear  in  this 
place  and  in  this  presence,  as  the  representative  of 
the  survivors  of  almost  three  millions  of  Lincoln  soldiers  and 
sailors,  who  served  in  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States 
during  what  is  officially  designated  as  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 
Of  the  two  million  seven  hundred  and  seventy-eight  thousand 
three  hundred  and  four  men  who,  on  land  and  sea,  fought 
for  four  fateful  years  that  this  nation  should  not  perish  from 
the  earth,  less  than  one-fourth  are  now  living.  In  a  few 
decades  the  last  survivor  who  followed  the  dear  old  flag  on 
the  fields  of  Shiloh,  Gettysburg,  Chattanooga,  and  Mobile 
Bay,  will  have  joined  our  great  President  in  honor  of  whose 
gracious  memory  we  are  here  assembled  on  this  hallowed 
spot  of  his  birth. 

It  is  among  the  greatest  mysteries  of  modern  history  that 
the  child  born  in  annus  mirabilis,  1809,  of  illiterate  and  im 
poverished  parents,  in  this  unpromising  place,  and  without 
any  advantages  whatsoever,  should  through  life  have  been  al 
ways  a  leader  and  master  of  men.  For  hundreds  of  years, 
scholars  have  in  vain  searched  for  the  sources  from  which 
Shakespeare  drew  the  inspiration  that  has  placed  him  first 
among  the  sons  of  men.  Lincoln  biographers  have  been 
equally  baffled  in  similar  attempts  to  discover  from  whence 
came  the  truly  wonderful  power  to  control  and  lead  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men,  that  was  certainly  possessed  by  the 
son  of  "poor  whites"  of  Kentucky  who  occupied  yonder  rude 
log  cabin. 

As  a  youth,  Abraham  Lincoln  '&  alertness,  skill,  and  strength, 
easily  made  him  a  recognized  leader  among  his  rough  com- 

267 


268  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

panions  in  their  amusements  and  contests,  including  wrestling. 
When  a  company  was  raised  in  his  County  for  the  Black 
Hawk  War,  Lincoln,  then  but  twenty-three  years  of  age,  was 
unanimously  elected  by  his  seniors  their  Captain,  which  gave 
him,  he  asserted,  greater  happiness  than  the  presidency.  At 
the  Illinois  bar  he  was  early  recognized  by  his  integrity  and 
ready  wit,  as  the  superior  of  his  duller  associates.  As  a 
political  debater,  Lincoln  defeated  one  of  the  ablest  speakers 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  but  a  brief  period  passed 
as  President  before  the  most  gifted  statesmen  of  his  Cabinet 
unhesitatingly  recognized  him  as  their  master.  Grant  praised 
Lincoln  as  being  in  military  matters  superior  to  many  of  his 
prominent  generals,  and  your  speaker  heard  Sherman  say  that 
the  President  was  among  the  ablest  strategists  of  the  War. 
The  beau  sabreur  Sheridan  shared  the  opinion  of  his  two 
seniors. 

It  was  my  peculiar  privilege  to  hear  several  of  the  most 
famous  speeches  delivered  during  and  before  the  Civil  War 
by  the  great  American,  who  stands  second  only  to  Washing 
ton.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  only  one  of  the  wisest  of 
men,  but  the  English-speaking  world  is  now  aware  that  he 
was  also  among  its  very  greatest  orators.  This  fact  was  not 
appreciated  during  his  life.  The  flowers  of  rhetoric  are  con 
spicuous  by  their  absence  from  his  speeches,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  if  Demosthenes,  Burke,  or  Webster,  could  have  found 
equally  fit  words  to  express  the  broad  philosophy  and  the 
exquisite  pathos  of  the  Gettysburg  Address  of  November, 
1863. 

Lincoln's  Second  Inaugural  is  among  the  most  famous 
spoken,  or  written,  utterances  in  the  English  language.  Por 
tions  of  it  have  been  compared  to  the  lofty  lines  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  prophets,  and  as  being  "Sublime  as  Milton's  im 
memorial  theme."  '  As  your  speaker  was  seated  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  President  when  he  delivered  this  immortal 
address,  possibly  he  may  be  permitted  to  repeat  to  you,  as 
nearly  as  he  can,  the  concluding  paragraph,  in  Mr.  Lincoln 's 
manner : 


Cnpyriyltt,  WO!),  Utideru-ood  <f  I'nrlerwood,  Xew  York 


Arrival  of  President  Roosevelt 


Copyright,  IMf),  Umlennmil  d-  I'nilem-ootl,  Xeic  York 

Gathering  about  the  Lincoln  Cabin 

THE    HODGEXVILLE    COMMEMOUATION 


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THE  HODGENVILLE  COMMEMORATION        269 

"Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword, 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  that 
'the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.'  With 
malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in  the  right, 
as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work 
that  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who 
shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and  his  orphan — to  do 
all  which  may  achieve  arid  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among 
ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

I  well  remember  as  a  youth,  the  nation's  grief  over  the 
death  of  Kentucky 's  distinguished  son,  Henry  Clay ;  the  wide 
spread  mourning  occasioned  by  the  departure  of  New  Eng 
land's  majestic  Webster,  and  the  sorrow  caused  by  the  pass 
ing  away  of  famous  Farragut,  and  the  illustrious  triumvirate, 
Grant,  Sherman,  and  Sheridan ;  but  never  except  in  the  death 
of  Lincoln,  did  the  country  witness  such  sorrow  among  the 
plain  people  and  the  race  that  he  had  liberated,  and  also  such 
numbers  of  sailors  and  soldiers  shedding  tears  for  the  great 
Commander  whom  they  never  saw.  Children  were  seen  cry 
ing  in  our  streets.  Never  before,  it  has  been  truthfully  said 
by  Lowell,  was  funeral  panegyric  so  eloquent  as  the  silent 
look  of  sympathy  which  strangers  exchanged  when  they  met 
on  that  day.  Their  common  manhood  had  lost  a  kinsman. 
Grant  said  to  your  speaker  that  the  day  of  Lincoln's  death 
was  the  saddest  of  his  life.  The  great  War  President's  was 
a  life  that  made  a  vast  difference  for  all  Americans ;  all  are 
better  off  than  if  he  had  not  lived ;  and  this  betterment  is  for 
always,  it  did  not  die  with  him: — that  is  the  true  estimate  of 
a  great  life. 

President  Roosevelt,  who  is  on  this  platform,  said  of  his 
three  most  illustrious  predecessors: 

"Washington  fought  in  the  earlier  struggle,  and  it  was  his  good  for 
tune  to  win  the  highest  renown  alike  as  a  soldier  and  statesman.  In 
the  second  and  even  greater  struggle,  the  deeds  of  Lincoln  the  states 
man,  were  made  good  by  those  of  Grant  the  soldier,  and  later  Grant 


270  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

himself  took  up  the  work  that  dropped  from  Lincoln's  tired  hands 
when  the  assassin's  bullet  went  home,  and  the  sad,  patient,  kindly 
eyes  were  closed  forever." 

What  would  have  been  the  history  of  our  country  without 
these  three  mighty  men?  It  certainly  may  be  questioned 
if  we  could  have  achieved  independence  without  Washington, 
and  it  is  equally  open  to  doubt  if  the  Republic  could  have 
maintained  its  integrity  without  Lincoln  and  Grant.  Na 
tional  unity  is  no  longer  a  theory,  but  a  condition,  and  we 
are  now  united  in  fact,  as  well  as  name.  In  the  words  of 
the  greatest  of  poets, 

"Those  opposed  eyes 

Which,  like  the  meteors  of  a  troubled  heaven, 
All  of  one  nature,  of  one  substance  bred, 
Did  lately  meet  in  the  intestine  shock, 
Shall  now,  in  mutual  well-beseeming  ranks 
March  all  one  way." 

It  is  perhaps  the  greatest  glory  of  the  triumvirate  of  un 
crowned  American  kings,  that  they  were  alike  spotless  in 
all  the  varied  relations  of  private  life.  Their  countrymen 
will  continue  to  cherish  their  memory  far  on  in  summers  that 
we  shall  not  see,  and  upon  the  adamant  of  their  fame,  the 
stream  of  Time  will  beat  without  injury.  The  names  of 
Washington,  the  founder,  Lincoln,  the  liberator,  and  Grant, 
the  saviour  of  our  country,  are  enrolled  in  the  Capitol,  and 
they  belong  to  the  endless  and  everlasting  ages. 


THE  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL 

HON.   JOSEPH   W.   FOLK 

THE  people  of  every  great  nation  have  in  all  times  honored 
their  heroes  with  memorials.  In  studying  the  history 
of  other  peoples  we,  in  a  large  measure,  judge  them  by  these 
tokens  of  affection  for  the  illustrious  men  that  led  them  in 
some  mighty  crisis.  This  nation  has  had  many  men  whose 
deeds  have  emblazoned  the  pages  of  history,  but  no  name  is 
now  dearer  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  than  that  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Washington  fought  to  give  us  this  nation,  guar 
anteeing  to  the  citizen,  rights  never  obtained  nor  exercised 
by  any  other  people;  Lincoln  struggled  to  keep  it  as  a  gov 
ernment  ''of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people.7' 
'Jefferson  taught  the  simple  truths  necessary  for  the  happi 
ness  of  a  democratic  people;  Lincoln  applied  these  truths 
to  the  troubles  of  his  time  and  steered  the  Ship  of  State  into 
a  peaceful  harbor.  Jackson  thundered  against  and  over 
came  the  evils  of  his  day;  Lincoln,  with  a  heart  ready  for 
any  fate,  breathed  a  new  force  into  the  doctrines  of  Jack 
son.  We  preserve  Mount  Vernon  in  memory  of  Washing 
ton.  Monticello  is  still  the  Mecca  for  the  followers  of  Jeffer 
son.  The  Hermitage  is  kept  as  when  Old  Hickory  lived 
and  worked  and  wrought.  Save  for  an  occasional  monu 
ment  there  is  no  suitable  memorial  of  Lincoln,  whose  fame 
grows  brighter  as  the  years  go  by. 

Here  on  this  farm,  one  hundred  years  ago  to-day,  was 
born  the  strongest,  strangest,  gentlest  character  the  Republic 
has  ever  known.  His  work  was  destined  to  have  a  more  far- 
reaching  influence  than  any  that  went  before  him.  Until 
recently,  this  spot,  which  should  be  hallowed  by  every  Amer 
ican,  was  unnoticed  and  abandoned.  Inspired  by  the  idea 
that  a  due  regard  for  the  apostle  of  human  liberty  who 

271 


272  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

sprang  from  this  soil  demanded  the  preservation  of  his 
birthplace,  a  few  patriotic  men  organized  the  Lincoln  Farm 
Association  to  purchase  this  property  and  to  erect  upon  it  a 
memorial  to  that  simple  but  sublime  life  that  here  came  into 
the  world.  This  Association  is  purely  patriotic  in  its  pur 
poses  and  the  movement  has  met  with  a  ready  response  from 
every  section  of  the  nation.  The  Governors  of  nearly  all  the 
States  have  appointed  commissioners  to  cooperate  in  this 
work.  The  South  has  responded  as  generously  as  the  North. 
In  revering  the  name  of  Lincoln,  there  is  now  no  North  nor 
South  nor  East  nor  West.  There  is  but  one  heart  in  all, 
and  that  the  heart  of  patriotic  America.  So  the  memorial 
to  be  erected  here  by  South  as  well  as  North  will  not  only 
be  in  memory  of  Lincoln,  but  it  will  be  a  testimony  that 
the  fires  of  hatred,  kindled  by  the  fierce  Civil  conflict  of 
nearly  half  a  century  ago,  are  dead,  and  from  the  ashes  has 
arisen  the  red  rose  of  patriotism  to  a  common  country  and 
loyalty  to  a  common  flag.  It  will  be  a  monument  in  the 
forward  progress  of  a  nation  dedicated  to  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  mankind. 

It  is  appropriate  that  these  dedicatory  exercises,  partici 
pated  in  by  representatives  of  every  part  of  the  nation, 
should  be  held  upon  the  centenary  of  Lincoln's  birth.  We 
have  not  come  so  much  to  dedicate  this  ground,  but  to  set 
it  apart  as  a  gift  to  the  American  people  as  a  lasting 
memorial  to  the  Matchless  American.  The  man  born  here 
has  already  consecrated  this  place.  It  is  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  before  us,  that  this  nation  shall 
not  have  been  preserved  merely  to  fall  before  the  enemies 
of  peace,  but  that  it  shall  be  made  free  from  the  things  that 
dishonor  and  oppress.  The  inspiration  of  high  citizenship 
must  ever  emanate  from  this  spot. 


THE  NEW  YOEK  COMMEMOEATION 


18 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION 

NEW  YORK,  the  metropolis  of  the  nation,  realized  its 
opportunity,  and  that  much  was  expected  of  it,  and 
lived  up  to  that  expectation  in  its  commemoration  of  the  day. 
The  New  York  Commemoration  was  directed  by  the  Lincoln 
Centenary  Committee  of  the  City  of  New  York,  appointed 
by  the  Honorable  George  B.  McClellan,  Mayor  of  the  city ;  of 
which  committee  the  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate,  former  Ambas 
sador  to  the  Court  of  St:  James,  was  made  Chairman.  The 
active  charge  of  the  celebration  was  in  the  hands  of  an  Execu 
tive  Committee  of  which  Mr.  Hugh  Hastings  was  Chairman, 
and  Mr.  Franklin  Chase  Hoyt,  Secretary. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  Centenary  day,  a 
national  salute  was  fired  from  all  the  forts  in  New  York  har 
bor,  by  the  battleships  in  port,  by  the  three  National  Guard 
field  batteries,  and  by  the  vessels  of  the  New  York  Naval 
Militia.  In  the  forenoon,  exercises  were  held  in  five  hundred 
and  sixty-one  public  schools  in  Greater  New  York,  with  the 
reading  of  the  Gettysburg  Address  at  noon  precisely;  while, 
during  the  day,  exercises  were  held  in  each  of  the  forty-six 
district  schools  of  greater  New  York,  at  which  prominent 
speakers  delivered  addresses  on  Lincoln.  In  the  afternoon,  a 
great  central  meeting  gathered  at  Cooper  Union,  that  famous 
hall  where,  in  1860,  Lincoln  delivered  an  address  which  made 
the  people  of  the  East  realize  that  he  had  possibilities  for  the 
presidency.  His  audience  on  that  occasion  had  been  a  dis 
tinguished  one,  and  testified  to  his  growing  national  impor 
tance  at  that  time.  It  included  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
Horace  Greeley,  David  Dudley  Field,  and,  among  the  younger 
men  present,  Joseph  H.  Choate  and  Lyman  T.  Abbott. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Centenary  held  in  the  same  hall,  the 
Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate  acted  as  Chairman;  and  Lyman  T. 
Abbott,  editor  of  "The  Outlook,"  gave  the  principal  address. 

275 


276  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

In  the  evening,  exercises  were  held  simultaneously  in  Car 
negie  Hall,  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  in 
the  New  York  State  National  Guard  Armories  of  the  Sev 
enth,  Eighth,  Ninth,  Twelfth,  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  Twenty- 
second,  Twenty-third,  Forty-seventh,  Sixty-ninth,  and  Sev 
enty-first  Regiments,  the  Second  Battery  Field  Artillery,  and 
the  Seventeenth  Separate  Company.  The  exercises  at  the 
Seventy-first  Regiment  Armory  were  conducted  by  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Hon. 
Chauncey  M.  Depew  delivering  the  address.  The  exercises 
at  the  Seventeenth  Separate  Company  Armory  were  also  con 
ducted  by  the  Grand  Army,  and  the  address  was  delivered  by 
the  Hon.  H.  Stewart  McKnight  of  Flushing,  New  York.  At 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  a  meeting  was 
held  at  which  Dr.  John  H.  Finley,  President  of  the  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  presided ;  and  Mr.  William  Webster 
Ellsworth,  of  "The  Century  Magazine/'  delivered  an  illus 
trated  lecture — "Abraham  Lincoln;  Boy  and  Man";  while 
Booker  T.  Washington  was  the  orator  at  a  banquet  given  by 
the  Republican  Club  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria. 

Lithographic  copies  of  the  Gettysburg  Address  had  been 
sent  to  eighty-five  theatres  in  Greater  New  York,  with  the 
request  that  the  address  be  read  at  both  the  afternoon  and 
evening  performances,  and  at  a  majority  of  the  theatres  this 
was  done,  some  of  them  having  in  addition  a  special  musical 
programme. 

The  Committee  issued  two  hundred  thousand  pamphlets, 
finely  illustrated,  and  full  of  interesting  and  valuable  mate 
rial  concerning  the  life  of  Lincoln,  which  were  distributed 
among  the  pupils  in  the  public  and  private  schools  of  the 
city.  These  were  read  throughout  the  city  and  kept  as  a  re 
membrance  of  the  Centenary. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE 

HON.   JOSEPH   HODGES   CHOATE 

JUST  forty-nine  years  ago,  in  this  very  month  of  February, 
on  this  very  spot,  before  just  such  an  audience  as  this, 
which  filled  this  historic  hall  to  overflowing,  I  first  saw  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  and  heard  him  deliver  that  thrilling  address 
which  led  to  his  nomination  at  Chicago  three  months  after 
wards  and  to  his  triumphant  election  in  November.  The  im 
pression  of  that  scene  and  of  that  speech  can  never  be  effaced 
from  my  memory. 

After  his  great  success  in  the  West,  which  had  excited 
the  keenest  expectation,  he  came  to  New  York  to  make  a 
political  address — as  he  had  supposed  at  Plymouth  Church 
in  Brooklyn,  and  it  was  only  when  he  left  his  hotel  that  he 
found  he  was  coming  to  Cooper  Institute.  He  appeared  in 
every  sense  of  the  word  like  one  of  the  plain  people,  among 
whom  he  always  loved  to  be  counted. 

At  first  sight  there  was  nothing  impressive  or  imposing 
about  him.  Nothing  but  his  great  stature  singled  him  out 
from  the  crowd.  His  clothes  hung  awkwardly  on  his  gaunt 
and  giant  frame.  His  face  was  of  a  dark  pallor,  without  a 
tinge  of  color.  His  seamed  and  rugged  features  bore  the 
furrows  of  hardship  and  struggle.  His  deep-set  eyes  looked 
sad  and  anxious.  His  countenance  in  repose  gave  little  evi 
dence  of  that  brain-power  which  had  raised  him  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  station  among  his  countrymen.  As  he 
spoke  to  me  before  the  meeting  opened,  he  seemed  ill  at  ease, 
with  that  sort  of  apprehension  that  a  young  man  might  feel 
before  facing  a  new  and  strange  audience  whose  critical  dis 
position  he  dreaded.  Here  were  assembled  all  the  noted  men 
of  his  party — all  the  learned  and  cultured  men  of  the  city, 
editors,  clergymen,  statesmen,  lawyers,  merchants,  critics. 

277 


278  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

They  were  all  most  curious  to  hear  him.  His  fame  as  a  power 
ful  speaker  had  come  out  of  the  West. 

When  Mr.  Bryant  presented  him  on  this  platform,  a  vast 
sea  of  eager,  upturned  faces  greeted  him,  full  of  intense 
curiosity  to  see  what  this  rude  son  of  the  people  was  like. 
He  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  When  he  spoke  he  was  trans 
figured  before  us.  His  eye  kindled,  his  voice  rang,  his  face 
shone  and  seemed  to  light  up  the  whole  assembly  as  by  an 
electric  flash.  For  an  hour  and  more  he  held  his  audience 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  His  style  of  speech  and  manner 
of  delivery  were  severely  simple.  The  grand  simplicities  of 
the  Bible,  with  which  he  was  so  familiar,  were  distinctly  his. 
With  no  attempt  at  ornament  or  rhetoric,  without  pretence  or 
parade,  he  spoke  straight  to  the  point.  It  was  marvellous  to 
see  how  this  untutored  man,  by  mere  self-discipline  and  the 
chastening  of  his  own  spirit,  had  outgrown  all  meretricious 
arts  and  had  found  his  own  way  to  the  grandeur  and  the 
strength  of  absolute  simplicity. 

He  spoke  upon  the  theme  which  he  had  mastered  so  thor 
oughly.  He  demonstrated  with  irresistible  force,  the  power 
and  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  to  exclude  slavery 
from  the  Territories.  In  the  kindliest  spirit  he  protested 
against  the  threat  of  the  Southern  States  to  destroy  the  Union 
if  a  Eepublican  President  were  elected.  He  closed  with  an 
appeal  to  his  audience,  spoken  with  all  the  fire  of  his  aroused 
and  inspired  conscience,  with  a  full  outpouring  of  his  love 
of  justice  and  liberty,  to  maintain  their  political  purpose  on 
that  lofty  issue  of  right  and  wrong  which  alone  could  justify 
it,  and  not  to  be  intimidated  from  their  high  resolve  and 
sacred  duty,  by  any  threats  of  destruction  to  the  government 
or  of  ruin  to  themselves.  He  concluded  with  that  telling  sen 
tence  which  drove  the  whole  argument  home  to  all  our  hearts, 
"Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith 
let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. ' ' 

That  night  the  great  hall,  and  the  next  day  the  whole  city, 
rang  with  delighted  applause  and  congratulation,  and  he  who 
had  come  as  a  stranger,  departed  with  the  laurels  of  a  great 
triumph. 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  279 

Alas!  in  five  years  from  that  exulting  night  we  saw  him 
again  for  the  last  time  in  this  city,  borne  in  his  coffin  through 
the  draped  streets.  With  tears  and  lamentations  a  heart 
broken  people  accompanied  him  from  Washington,  the  scene 
of  his  martyrdom,  to  his  last  resting  place  in  the  young  city 
of  the  West,  where  he  had  worked  his  way  to  fame. 

The  great  events  and  achievements  of  those  five  years, 
seen  through  the  perspective  of  the  forty  that  have  since 
elapsed,  have  fixed  his  place  in  history  forever.  It  is  the 
supreme  felicity  of  the  American  people,  in  the  short  period 
of  their  existence  as  a  nation,  to  have  furnished  to  the  world 
the  two  greatest  benefactors,  not  of  their  own  time  only,  but 
of  all  modern  history.  Washington  created  the  nation  and 
is  known  the  world  over  as  the  Father  of  his  Country. 
Lincoln  came  to  be  its  saviour  and  redeemer — to  save  it 
from  self-destruction,  and  to  redeem  it  from  the  cancer  of 
slavery  which  has  been  gnawing  upon  its  vitals  from  the 
beginning.  If  it  had  been  put  to  the  vote  of  the  forty-four 
nations  assembled  at  the  Hague  for  the  first  time  in  the 
world's  history,  representing  the  whole  of  civilization,  Chris 
tian  and  Pagan,  to  name  the  two  men  who  in  modern  times 
had  done  the  most  to  promote  liberty,  justice,  civilization, 
and  peace,  I  am  sure  that  with  one  voice  they  would  have 
acclaimed  these  two  greatest  of  Americans.  Let  their  names 
stand  together  for  all  time  to  come. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABOR  LEADER 

REV.    LYMAN   ABBOTT 

A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  won  his  reputation  and  achieved 
./JL  his  service  for  the  nation  by  the  solution  of  the  labor 
problem  of  his  time — slavery.  How  can  we  apply  the  prin 
ciples  he  inculcated  and  the  spirit  he  exemplified  in  solving 
the  labor  problem  of  our  time  ?  This  is  the  theme  to  which  I 
ask  your  attention  this  afternoon.  For  it  would  be  useless 
for  me  to  attempt  to  repeat  the  story  of  his  life,  or  essay 
an  analysis  of  his  character.  This  has  been  so  eloquently 
done  by  the  Chairman  of  this  meeting  in  his  address  before 
the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Institution  in  1900,  and  by 
Carl  Schurz  in  his  well-known  essay,  that  the  repetition  of 
their  service  would  be  needless  if  it  were  possible ;  and  for 
me  would  be  impossible  if  it  were  needed.  I  might  as  well 
attempt  to  reconstruct  a  Saint-Gaudens  statue  of  Lincoln 
with  my  clumsy  hand,  as  with  my  faltering  tongue  to  re-sing 
the  song  or  re-tell  the  story  so  often  sung  and  so  often  told. 
Instead,  I  shall  venture  to  repeat,  from  the  well-known  Ode 
of  Lowell,  his  portrait  of  the  Great  Emancipator,  and  then 
pass  on  to  my  chosen  field: 

"Nature,  they  say,  doth  dote, 

And  cannot  make  a  man 

Save  on  some  worn-out  plan, 

Repeating  us  by  rote: 

For  him  her  Old- World  molds  aside  she  threw, 
And,  choosing  sweet  clay  from  the  breast 

Of  the  unexhausted   West, 
With  stuff  untainted  shaped  a  hero  new, 
Wise,  steadfast  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  true. 

How  beautiful  to  see 

Once  more  a  shepherd  of  mankind  indeed, 
Who  loved  his  charge,  but  never  loved  to  lead; 
280 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  281 

One  whose  meek  flock  the  people  joyed  to  be, 
Not  lured  by  any  cheat  of  birth, 
But  by  his  clear-grained  human  worth, 
And  brave  old  wisdom  of  sincerity! 

.     .     .     standing  like   a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  drea'ding  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American." 

Nearly  half  a  century  ago,  a  young  man  just  entering  on 
my  professional  career,  I  came  to  Cooper  Institute  to  hear 
the  Western  orator  whose  debate  with  Douglas  had  given  him 
a  national  reputation.  Some  of  his  friends  had  broached  to 
him  the  subject  of  a  nomination  to  the  presidency.  "What," 
he  replied,  "is  the  use  of  talking  of  me  when  we  have  such 
men  as  Seward  and  Chase,  and  everybody  knows  them,  and 
scarcely  anybody  outside  of  Illinois  knows  me?  Besides,  as 
a  matter  of  justice  is  it  not  due  to  them?"  His  friends, 
more  sanguine  than  he  was  about  himself,  had  resolved  that 
he  should  be  known,  and  had  arranged  for  some  Eastern 
speeches  by  him.  This  Cooper  Union  speech  was  the  first 
given  in  this  Eastern  campaign.  My  recollection  of  the  scene 
is  little  more  than  a  memory  of  a  memory.  The  long  hall 
with  the  platform  at  the  end,  not  at  the  side  as  now;  the 
great,  expectant,  but  not  enthusiastic  crowd;  the  tall  un 
gainly  figure,  the  melancholy  face,  the  clear  carrying  voice, 
the  few  awkward  gestures.  I  had  been  accustomed  to  the 
dramatic  and  impassioned  oratory  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
I  was  an  admirer,  not  of  the  principles,  but  of  the  perfect 
literary  finish  of  Wendell  Phillips'  rapier-like  conversations 
with  his  audiences.  I  listened  to  a  speech  that  night  as  pas 
sionless,  but  also  as  convincing,  as  a  demonstration  in  Euclid's 
Geometry,  as  clear  and  cogent,  but  also  as  absolutely  without 
oratorical  ornament  of  any  description.  So  much,  with  some 
effort,  I  recall.  But  no  effort  would  enable  me  ever  to  for 
get  the  new  impulse  which  that  great  personality  imparted 
to  my  youthful  imagination.  From  that  moment  I,  who 
before  that  time  had  been  a  Seward  Republican,  became  an 
enthusiastic  Lincoln  Republican,  and  have  stayed  converted 


282  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ever  since.  Subsequent  study  of  his  life  and  writings  has 
enabled  me  to  analyze  the  then  unanalyzed  impression  which 
he  produced  on  the  young  men  of  his  generation.  He  was 
an  embodied  challenge  to  the  conscience  of  the  nation.  He 
takes  a  place  in  American  history  which  belongs  to  Amos  in 
the  history  of  the  Hebrew  people;  like  Amos,  a  son  of  the 
people;  like  Amos,  with  a  plumb-line  of  righteousness  by 
which  he  measured  the  institutions  of  his  country ;  like  Amos, 
bringing  every  political  question  to  the  test,  What  is  right? 
and  by  that  test  insisting  that  all  political  questions  should 
be  determined. 

Vague  stories  are  told,  some  historical,  some  legendary,  to 
illustrate  Abraham  Lincoln's  faith  offered  to  a  God  efficient 
in  the  affairs  of  this  world.  The  first  expression  of  such 
faith  that  I  can  find  from  Lincoln  himself  is  in  his  Address 
to  his  fellow-citizens  of  Springfield  as  he  starts  on  his  east 
ward  journey  to  his  first  inauguration : 

"I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington. 
Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I 
cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him 
who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good, 
let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  com- 
mending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid 
you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

From  this  simple  faith  in  the  God  who  watches  over  na 
tions  as  over  individuals  he  never  departed.  Subsequent 
events  only  served  to  deepen  and  strengthen  it.  But  in  his 
earlier  life,  before  burdens  too  heavy  for  him  to  bear  alone 
had  driven  him  to  look  for  help  to  the  Helper  of  men,  Lin 
coln  was  an  agnostic.  He  wrote  in  his  youth  an  essay  against 
Christianity,  which,  fortunately  for  his  reputation,  a  wise 
friend  threw  into  the  fire.  But  if  that  is  the  only  indication 
of  an  anti-Christian  faith,  there  is  no  indication  in  his  youth 
of  any  religious  faith,  Christian  or  other.  Says  Mr.  Hern- 
don,  "Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  faith.  In  order  to  believe,  he  must 
see  and  feel  and  thrust  his  hand  into  the  place.  He  must 
taste,  smell,  or  handle  before  he  had  faith  or  even  belief." 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  283 

Mr.  Herndon's  estimate  is  confirmed  by  that  of  Lincoln's 
wife.  "Mr.  Lincoln,"  she  says,  "had  no  faith  and  no  hope 
in  the  usual  acceptation  of  those  words.  He  never  joined  a 
church;  but  still,  as  I  believe,  he  was  a  religious  man  by 
nature.  ...  He  first  seemed  to  think  about  the  subject 
when  our  Willie  died,  and  then  more  than  ever  by  the  time 
he  went  to  Gettysburg;  but  it  was  a  kind  of  poetry  in  his 
nature,  and  he  was  never  a  technical  Christian/7 

What  profounder  religious  faith  than  was  expressed  in 
Lincoln's  Springfield  Speech,  Mrs.  Lincoln  looked  for,  I  do 
not  know;  and  what  is  meant  by  a  "technical  Christian" 
I  am  not  quite  sure.  But  if  Lincoln  had  in  the  early  part 
of  his  life  no  faith  and  no  hope,  it  is  certain  that  from  his 
earliest  years  he  had  a  conscience.  Whether  it  was  inherited 
from  his  mother,  or  acquired  by  education,  or  received  by  a 
susceptible  soul  from  that  mysterious  Being  in  whom  we  have 
our  life,  it  certainly  dominated  his  whole  nature  and  con 
trolled  his  whole  conduct.  From  his  youth  up  he  was  known 
among  his  rough  companions  as  "Honest  Abe."  They  were 
accustomed  to  refer  to  him  their  controversies  and  accept 
his  arbitrament,  generally  without  question.  If  ever  there 
is  a  time  in  the  life  of  man  when  his  conscience  takes  the 
second  place  and  his  passion  comes  to  the  front,  it  is  when 
he  is  in  love.  I  think  Abraham  Lincoln's  letter  to  Mary 
Owens  in  1837  a  unique  specimen  in  love  literature,  of  love- 
making  by  conscience : 

"I  want  in  all  cases  to  do  right,  and  most  particularly  so  in  all  cases 
with  women.  I  want  at  this  particular  time,  more  than  anything  else, 
to  do  right  with  you;  and  if  I  knew  it  would  be  doing  right,  as  I 
rather  suspect  it  would  be,  to  let  you  alone,  I  would  do  it.  And  for 
the  purpose  of  making  the  matter  as  plain  as  possible,  I  now  say  that 
you  can  now  drop  the  subject,  dismiss  your  thoughts  (if  you  ever  had 
any)  from  me  forever,  and  leave  this  letter  unanswered,  without  call 
ing  forth  one  accusing  murmur  from  me.  .  .  .  Nothing  would 
make  me  more  miserable  than  to  believe  you  miserable — nothing  more 
happy  than  to  know  you  were  so." 

He  was  a  man  of  eager  professional  ambitions;  but  his 
notes  prepared  for  a  law  lecture  in  1850,  which  was,  so  far 


284  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

as  I  know,  never  delivered,  show  that  in  his  innermost  thought 
his  professional  ambitions  were  subordinated  to  his  conscience. 
He  says: 

"There  is  a  vague  popular  belief  that  lawyers  are  necessarily  dis 
honest.  I  say  vague,  because  when  we  consider  to  what  extent 
confidence  and  honors  are  reposed  in  and  conferred  upon  lawyers  by 
the  people,  it  appears  improbable  that  their  impression  of  dishon 
esty  is  very  distinct  and  vivid.  Yet  the  impression  is  common,  al 
most  universal.  Let  no  young  man  choosing  the  law  for  a  calling  for 
a  moment  yield  to  the  popular  belief — resolve  to  be  honest  at  all 
events;  and  if  in  your  own  judgment  you  cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer, 
resolve  to  be  honest  without  being  a  lawyer.  Choose  some  other  occu 
pation  rather  than  one  in  the  choosing  of  which  you  do,  in  advance, 
consent  to  be  a  knave." 

Lincoln  was  a  man  of  strong  political  ambitions ;  but  from 
the  outset  of  his  life  his  political  ambitions  were  subordinated 
to  his  desire  for  public  righteousness.  In  1836  he  was  run 
ning  for  the  first  time  for  office.  His  defeat  then  would  have 
probably  been  a  permanent  end  to  his  political  hopes.  A 
Mr.  Robert  Allen  had  said  that  he  was  in  possession  of  facts 
which,  if  known  to  the  public,  would  destroy  Lincoln's  pros 
pects,  but  through  favor  to  Lincoln  he  would  not  divulge 
those  facts.  Lincoln  writes  him: 

"No  one  has  needed  favors  more  than  I,  and,  generally,  few  have 
been  less  unwilling  to  accept  them;  but  in  this  case  favor  to  me  would 
be  injustice  to  the  public,  and  therefore  I  must  beg  your  pardon  for 
declining  it.  ...  the  candid  statement  of  facts  on  your  part,  how 
ever  low  it  may  sink  me,  shall  never  break  the  tie  of  personal  friend 
ship  between  us." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  striking  illustration  of 
the  dominating  power  of  conscience  than  in  this  declaration, 
that  an  act  just  to  the  public  and  destructive  to  the  writer's 
ambitions  would  not  sunder  the  ties  of  friendship  between 
the  writer  and  the  man  who  had  destroyed  his  political  hopes. 

A  year  later,  at  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  Lincoln  delivers 
a  Lyceum  address  in  Springfield.  He  warns  the  young  men 
to  whom  he  speaks  of  impending  national  peril.  He  fears  no 
attack  of  foreign  foe.  "As  a  nation  of  freemen/'  he  says, 
"we  must  live  through  all  time,  or  die  by  suicide."  The 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  285 

domestic  peril  which  he  fears  is  not  intemperance,  nor  gam 
bling,  nor  even  slavery,  but  a  lack  of  conscience,  a  disregard 
of  justice,  "the  growing  disposition  to  substitute  the  wild 
and  furious  passions  in  lieu  of  the  sober  judgments  of  courts, 
and  the  worse  than  savage  mobs  for  the  executive  ministers 
of  justice."  He  is  nominated  by  the  Republicans  of  Illinois 
against  Stephen  A.  Douglas  to  be  United  States  Senator. 
He  prepares  with  care  his  speech  of  acceptance  and  reads 
it  to  his  friends.  It  opens  with  these  pregnant  sentences, 
since  become  famous  in  the  political  history  of  America : 

"  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this  Gov 
ernment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing,  or  all  the  other." 

His  cautious  friends  protest.  One  calls  it  a  fool  utterance. 
Another  says  it  is  ahead  of  the  times.  A  third  argues  that 
it  would  drive  away  a  good  many  voters  fresh  from  the  Dem 
ocratic  ranks.  Even  his  Abolition  friend,  Herndon,  doubts 
its  wisdom.  "This  thing, "  replies  Lincoln,  "has  been  re 
tarded  long  enough.  The  time  has  come  when  these  sentences 
should  be  heard,  and  if  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down 
because  of  this  speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  to  the 
truth.  Let  me  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right. ' ' 
In  his  subsequent  debate  with  Douglas  he  nails  this  flag  to 
the  mast  and  keeps  it  flying  there : 

"The  real  issue  in  this  controversy  ...  is  the  sentiment  on  the 
part  of  one  class  that  looks  upon  slavery  as  a  wrong,  and  of  another 
class  that  does  not  look  upon  it  as  a  wrong.  .  .  .  That  is  the 
real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in  this  country  when 
these  poor  tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent.  It 
is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  two  principles — right  and  wrong 
— throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  two  principles  which  have  stood 
face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time;  and  will  ever  continue  to 
struggle." 

Such  was  the  man  who  came  to  New  York,  and  in  this  hall 
forty-nine  years  ago  issued  his  challenge  to  the  sleeping  con 
science  of  the  city.  He  was  in  the  commercial  metropolis 


286  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  nation,  the  Corinth  of  America.  All  its  life  was  cen 
tered  in  and  dominated  by  its  commercial  interests.  Its 
great  religious  societies  and  its  most  influential  pulpits,  with 
a  few  notable  exceptions,  were  silent  respecting  the  wrong 
of  slavery.  Cotton  was  King,  and  New  York  was  his  capital. 
Nowhere  more  than  in  New  York  was  compromise  popular, 
and  uncompromising  hostility  to  slavery  abhorrent  to  popu 
lar  sentiment;  nowhere  more  than  in  New  York  might  the 
woe  have  been  pronounced  against  those  that  "  close  their 
eyes  that  they  may  not  see,  their  ears  that  they  may  not  hear, 
and  their  hearts  that  they  may  not  feel,  lest  they  should  be 
converted. "  Even  the  most  radical  anti-slavery  journal  in 
the  city  damned  the  Western  orator  with  faint  praise.  With 
a  moral  courage  rarely  exceeded,  though  happily  not  without 
frequent  historic  parallels,  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  this  city 
and  to  this  audience,  reissued  his  challenge  to  the  conscience 
of  the  nation. 

"If  slavery,"  he  said,  "is  right  ...  we  cannot  justly  object  to  its 
nationality — its  universality;  if  it  is  wrong,  they  cannot  justly  insist 
upon  its  extension — its  enlargement.  All  they  ask  we  could  readily 
grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right;  all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily 
grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right  and  our 
thinking  it  wrong  is  the  precise  fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole 
controversy." 

In  that  issue,  so  stated,  compromise  was  impossible. 

The  slavery  question  seems  so  simple  to  us  now ;  but  it  was 
not  simple  to  the  men  of  that  generation.  Let  us  go  back 
and  attempt  to  conceive  it  as  it  appeared  to  them.  The  year 
1620,  which  saw  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landing  on  Plymouth 
Bock,  saw  a  vessel  of  slaves  landing  on  the  Virginia  coast. 
For  nearly  two  hundred  years  slavery  existed  in  every  State 
in  the  Union  except  Massachusetts,  and  some  citizens  of 
Massachusetts  engaged  in  the  slave  trade.  Partly  from 
moral,  partly  from  economic  reasons,  it  was  gradually  abol 
ished  in  the  Northern  States.  But  the  invention  of  the 
cotton-gin  created  a  greatly  increased  demand  for  cotton,  and 
the  greatly  increased  demand  for  cotton,  created  a  greatly 
increased  demand  for  negro  labor,  and  this  gave  slavery 


Facsimile  of  First  Page  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  Letter  of  Acknowledgment  of 
the  Medal  Presented  by  the  Citizens  of  France 


Facsimile  of  the  Second  Page  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  Letter 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  287 

a  new  life  in  the  Southern  States.  It  was  first  regretted, 
then  excused,  then  justified,  finally  glorified.  Other  causes 
tended  to  promote  radical  differences  between  North  and 
South,  but  they  would  easily  have  been  overcome  had 
it  not  been  that  slavery  existed  in  one  section  and  not  in 
another.  For  a  while  a  line  was  drawn  across  the  continent, 
and  an  agreement  was  reached,  that  south  of  that  line,  slavery 
should  never  be  interfered  with,  north  of  that  line  the  ter 
ritory  should  remain  forever  free.  The  abolition  of  this 
Compromise  in  1854  opened  Northern  territory  to  slavery 
and  threw  the  whole  country  into  a  ferment  of  passion  and 
panic.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  history,  arguments  do  not 
seem  even  specious  now  that  seemed  forceful  then.  They 
were  such  as  these:  Slave  labor  is  necessary  to  cotton,  and 
cotton  is  necessary  to  the  world.  Slaves  have  been  made 
property,  and  interference  with  slavery  is  a  violation  of 
vested  rights.  Slavery  is  recognized  by  the  Constitution;  to 
interfere  with  slavery  is  to  violate  a  solemn  compact  and  to 
rend  asunder  the  most  sacred  document  ever  written  by 
human  hands.  Slavery  is  justified  by  patriarchal  example, 
by  Old  Testament  laws,  and  by  Noah's  curse  of  Canaan  and 
his  descendants;  to  demand  its  abolition  is  to  deny  the  Bible 
and  attack  the  foundations  of  religion.  The  continued  agita 
tion  of  the  slave  question  destroys  business  prosperity, 
paralyzes  industry,  threatens  the  destruction  of  the  Union, 
the  last  hope  of  democracy  upon  the  earth;  against  such  dis 
astrous  consequences  the  imaginary  welfare  of  three  million 
black  men  is  not  for  an  instant  to  be  weighed.  Thus  eco 
nomics,  the  rights  of  property,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  Old  Testament  laws,  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  re- 
enforced  by  the  inertia  miscalled  conservatism,  were  all 
combined  in  the  endeavor  to  prohibit  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question.  Eloquently  did  Lincoln  sum  up  the  condition  of 
the  negro  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Springfield  a  year  before 
his  nomination  to  the  United  States  Senate : 

"All  the  powers  of  the  earth  seem  rapidly  combining  against  him. 
Mammon  is  after  him,  ambition  follows,  philosophy  follows,  and  the 
theology  of  the  day  is  fast  joining  the  cry.  They  have  him  in  his 


288  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

prison-house;  they  have  searched  his  person,  and  left  no  prying  instru 
ment  with  him.  One  after  another  they  have  closed  the  heavy  iron 
doors  upon  him;  and  now  they  have  him,  as  it  were,  bolted  in  with 
a  lock  of  a  hundred  keys,  which  can  never  be  unlocked  without  the 
concurrence  of  every  key — the  key  in  the  hands  of  a  hundred  different 
men,  and  they  scattered  to  a  hundred  different  and  distant  places; 
and  they  stand  musing  as  to  what  invention,  in  all  the  dominions 
of  mind  and  matter,  can  be  produced  to  make  the  impossibility  of  his 
escape  more  complete  than  it  is." 

In  the  confused  and  vehement  conflict  of  passions  and 
opinions  which  only  the  pen  of  a  Carlyle  would  be  adequate 
to  portray,  there  emerged  two  parties,  both  of  which  justified 
the  abolition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  opening  of 
Northern  territory  to  the  incursion  of  slavery.  One  of  these 
parties  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1860  was  represented 
by  Breckinridge,  the  other  by  Douglas.  The  first  demanded 
the  constitutional  right  to  carry  their  slaves  as  property  into 
every  State  in  the  Union.  Robert  Toombs,  of  Georgia, 
boasted  that  he  would  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  at  the  foot  of 
Bunker  Hill  Monument.  The  famous  Dred  Scott  decision, 
that  a  slave  was  not  converted  into  a  free  man  by  being  car 
ried  into  free  territory,  gave  apparent,  if  not  real  support 
to  the  constitutional  argument  of  the  Breckinridge  wing. 
The  other  party  did  not  claim  that  slavery  must  go,  but  only 
that  it  might  go,  into  Northern  territory.  As  a  compromise 
between  North  and  South,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  invented  the 
doctrine — which  his  friends  called  "popular  sovereignty " 
and  his  enemies  "squatter  sovereignty'* — the  doctrine  that 
the  people  of  any  State  might  determine  whether  it  should  be 
a  free  or  a  slave  State,  when  they  framed  its  Constitution. 
To  both  these  doctrines  Lincoln  brought  the  plumb-line  of 
practical  righteousness.  His  answer  to  the  Dred  Scott  deci 
sion  was : 

"It  is  singular  that  the  courts  would  hold  that  a  man  never  lost 
his  right  to  his  property  that  had  been  stolen  from  him,  but  that 
he  instantly  lost  the  right  to  himself  if  he  was  stolen." 

His  answer  to  popular  sovereignty  was  equally  terse  and 
equally  unanswerable : 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  289 

"The  doctrine  of  self-government  is  right — absolutely  and  eternally 
right.  .  .  .  When  the  white  man  governs  himself,  that  is  self- 
government;  but  when  he  governs  himself  and  also  governs  another 
man,  that  is  more  than  self-government — that  is  despotism." 

And  his  answer  to  all  the  defences  of  slavery,  economic, 
philosophic,  humanitarian,  and  religious,  was  summed  up  in 
an  appeal  to  consciousness  that  might  have  been  derived  from 
Darwin's  "Emotions  in  Animals  and  Man,"  if  that  book  had 
then  been  written.  He  says: 

"The  ant  who  has  toiled  and  dragged  a  crumb  to  his  nest  will 
fiercely  defend  the  fruit  of  his  labor  against  whatever  robber  assails 
him.  So  plain  is  it  that  the  most  dumb  and  stupid  slave  that  ever 
toiled  for  a  master  does  know  that  he  has  been  wronged.  So  plain 
is  it  that  no  one,  high  or  low,  ever  does  mistake  it,  except  in  a 
plainly  selfish  way;  for,  although  volume  upon  volume  is  written 
to  prove  slavery  a  very  good  thing,  we  never  hear  of  the  man  who 
writes  to  tell  the  good  of  it,  being  a  slave  himself." 

And  yet  Lincoln  was  not  an  Abolitionist.  Not  because  he 
was  less  just,  but  because  he  was  more  just ;  because  he  recog 
nized  rights  which  the  Abolitionists  did  not  recognize,  and 
insisted  upon  duties  which  they  ignored.  The  Abolitionists 
declared  that  slave-holders,  slave-traders,  and  slave-drivers 
"are  a  race  of  monsters  unparalleled  in  their  assumption  of 
power  and  their  despotic  cruelty. "  Never  did  Lincoln  utter 
a  word  of  bitterness  or  hate  against  the  slave-owner.  ' '  I  think 
I  have,"  he  said,  "no  prejudice  against  the  Southern  people. 
They  are  just  what  we  would  be  in  their  situation.  If  slav 
ery  did  not  now  exist  among  them,  they  would  not  introduce 
it.  If  it  did  now  exist  among  us,  we  should  not  instantly 
give  it  up."  The  Abolitionists  declared  that  the  existing 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  "is  a  covenant  with  death 
and  an  agreement  with  hell."  Lincoln  believed  in  that  Con 
stitution,  honored  the  men  who  framed  it,  solemnly  swore  to 
support  it,  and  laid  down  his  life  in  maintaining  that  solemn 
oath.  The  Abolitionists  demanded  "immediate,  unconditional 
emancipation."  One  of  Lincoln's  first  acts  in  going  to  Con 
gress  was  to  propose  a  Bill  for  the  gradual  emancipation  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  with  compensation  to 
19 


290  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  slave-owners;  and  one  of  his  last  acts,  before  reluctantly 
consenting  to  issue  an  Emancipation  Proclamation  as  a  war 
measure,  was  to  secure  from  Congress  a  pledge  of  national 
cooperation  with  the  slave-holders  of  the  loyal  States,  if  they 
would  consent  to  gradual  emancipation  with  compensation. 
The  Abolitionists  proclaimed  as  a  fundamental  principle, 
"No  union  with  slave-holders."  Lincoln,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Civil  War,  wrote  to  Horace  Greeley,  .  .  .  "If  I  could 
save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slaves,  I  would  do  it; 
.  .  .  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving 
others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that."  Lincoln  was  not  an 
Abolitionist:  because  he  had  charity  for  the  slaveholder  for 
whom  the  Abolitionist  had  no  charity ;  because  he  honored  the 
Constitution  which  the  Abolitionists  denounced;  because  he 
used  every  endeavor  to  persuade  the  nation  to  assume  its  share 
of  responsibility  for  slavery,  and  its  share  of  the  burden  in 
volved  in  emancipation,  from  which  the  Abolitionists  endeav 
ored  in  vain  to  escape;  and  because  he  endured  four  as  sad 
years  as  ever  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  man  in  order  that  he 
might  save  the  Union  which  the  Abolitionists  wished  to 
destroy.  And  yet  to  the  principle,  "No  further  extension 
of  slavery  on  American  soil,"  he  gave  himself  with  uncom 
promising  consecration.  For  that  principle  he  hazarded  his 
own  political  fortunes,  the  fortunes  of  his  party,  and  the  life 
of  the  nation.  To  all  remonstrances  urging  compromise  upon 
him  after  his  election,  his  answer  was  the  same,  "On  the  Ter 
ritorial  question  [that  is,  the  question  of  extending  slavery 
under  national  auspices]  I  am  inflexible." 

I  have  said  that  the  slavery  question  was  one  phase  of  the 
labor  question.  So  said  Lincoln,  nearly  half  a  century  ago. 
"The  existing  rebellion,"  he  wrote  to  a  Committee  from  the 
Working  Men's  Association  of  New  York,  "  .  .  .  is  in 
fact  a  war  upon  the  rights  of  all  working  people."  To  what 
conclusion  would  his  principles  and  his  spirit  lead  upon  the 
Labor  Question  as  it  is  presented  to  us  in  our  times? 

We  may  be  sure  that  he  who  never  denounced  the  slave 
holder,  who  never  did  anything  to  intensify  the  profound  ire 
of  South  against  North  or  North  against  South,  would  enter 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  291 

into  no  class  war,  would  never  denounce  the  rich  to  the  poor 
or  the  poor  to  the  rich.  He  who  told  the  farmers  of  Wiscon 
sin  that  the  reason  why  there  were  more  attempts  to  flatter 
them  than  any  other  class  was  because  they  could  cast  more 
votes,  but  that  to  his  thinking  they  were  neither  better  nor 
worse  than  other  people,  would  never  flatter  the  mechanic 
class  to  win  for  himself  or  his  party  a  labor  vote.  He  who, 
in  1864,  held  with  workingmen  that  "the  strongest  bond  of 
human  sympathy,  outside  of  the  family  relation,  should  be  one 
uniting  all  working  people,  of  all  nations,  and  tongues,  and 
kindreds,"  would  not  condemn  labor  unions.  He  who,  at  the 
same  time,  said  to  them,  "Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull 
down  the  house  of  another,  but  let  him  work  diligently  and 
build  one  for  himself/'  would  have  condemned  all  lawless 
acts  of  violence,  whether  against  the  employer  of  labor  or  the 
non-union  laborer  who  is  employed.  He  who  thanked  God 
that  we  have  a  system  of  labor  where  there  can  be  a  strike — 
a  point  where  the  workingman  may  stop  working — would  not 
deny  this  right  to  the  workingman  of  to-day.  He  who  said, 
in  1860,  "I  don't  believe  in  a  law  to  prevent  a  man  from  get 
ting  rich,"  and  who  did  believe  in  "allowing  the  humblest  man 
an  equal  chance  to  get  rich  with  any  one  else,"  would  have 
found,  not  in  war  upon  the  wealthy,  but  in  equal  opportunity 
for  all,  the  remedy  for  social  and  industrial  inequalities.  He 
who  condemned  the  mudsill  theory,  the  theory  that  labor  and 
education  are  incompatible  and  that  "a  blind  horse  upon  a 
treadmill  is  a  perfect  illustration  of  what  a  laborer  should  be, 
all  the  better  for  being  blind,  so  that  he  could  not  kick  under- 
standingly,"  would  be  the  earnest  advocate  of  child-labor 
laws  and  industrial  education.  He  who  argued  that  "As  the 
Author  of  man  makes  every  individual  with  one  head  and 
one  pair  of  hands,  it  was  probably  intended  that  heads  and 
hands  should  cooperate  as  friends,  and  that  that  particular 
head  should  direct  and  control  that  pair  of  hands,"  would 
believe  in  cooperation  between  labor  and  capital,  leading  on 
to  the  time  when  laborers  should  become  capitalists  and  all 
capitalists  should  become  laborers.  He  who  held,  in  1854, 
that  "the  legitimate  object  of  government  is  'to  do  for  the 


292  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

people  what  needs  to  be  done,  but  which  they  cannot,  by  in 
dividual  effort,  do  at  all,  or  do  so  well,  for  themselves/  " 
would  neither  believe  in  the  night-watchman  theory  of  gov 
ernment  which  allows  it  to  do  nothing  but  police  duty,  nor  in 
the  socialistic  theory  of  government  which  leaves  nothing  for 
individual  effort  to  do  for  itself. 

Two  solutions  of  the  labor  problem  present  themselves  in 
our  time  for  our  acceptance.  One  is  capitalism,  or  the  wages 
system :  that  a  few  shall  always  own  the  tools  and  implements 
with  which  industry  is  carried  on — these  are  capitalists — and 
that  the  many  shall  always  carry  on  the  industry  with  these 
tools  and  implements  for  wages  paid  by  their  owners.  This 
makes  the  mass  of  men  always  wage-laborers,  dependent  upon 
a  few.  The  other  is  State  socialism:  that  the  government 
shall  own  all  the  tools  and  implements  of  industry,  and  allot 
to  the  various  members  of  the  community  their  respective 
industries  and  compensations.  This  makes  all  individuals 
wage-earners  employed  by  an  organization,  the  City,  State, 
or  Nation,  in  the  control  of  which  it  is  assumed  all  will  share. 
Neither  of  these  solutions  would  Lincoln  have  .accepted. 
Neither  of  these  solutions  did  he  accept.  No  solution  would 
he  have  accepted  which  made  the  workingman,  whether  he 
works  with  brain  or  with  hand,  a  perpetual  wage-earner,  fixed 
in  that  condition  for  life,  and  forever  dependent  for  his  live 
lihood  upon  any  employer,  whether  private  or  political.  He 
did  not  believe  in  a  perpetual  employment  of  the  many  by  a 
few  capitalists;  he  would  not  have  believed  in  a  perpetual 
employment  of  all  by  one  capitalist — the  State  or  the  Nation. 
He  believed  in  a  fair  field  and  an  open  door  through  which 
every  workingman  may  become  a  capitalist,  every  wage- 
earner  may  become  his  own  employer. 

In  his  first  Annual  Message,  Lincoln  stated  with  great 
clearness  his  solution  of  the  labor  problem.  To  that  state 
ment  he  attached  such  importance  that  he  repeated  it  two 
years  and  a  half  later  in  his  letter  to  the  Working  Men's 
Association  of  New  York.  The  importance  he  attached  to 
this  statement  of  his  faith  justifies  my  reading  it  at  some 
length : 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  293 

"Labor  is  prior  to,  and  independent  of,  capital.  Capital  is  only  the 
fruit  of  labor,  and  could  never  have  existed  if  labor  had  not  first 
existed.  Labor  is  the  superior  of  capital,  and  deserves  much  the 
higher  consideration.  Capital  has  its  rights,  which  are  as  worthy  of 
protection  as  any  other  rights.  Nor  is  it  denied  that  there  is,  and 
probably  always  will  be,  a  relation  between  labor  and  capital,  pro 
ducing  mutual  benefits.  The  error  is  in  assuming  that  the  whole 
labor  of  the  community  exists  within  that  relation.  .  .  .  There 
is  not,  of  necessity,  any  such  thing  as  the  free  hired  laborer  being  fixed 
to  that  condition  for  life.  Many  independent  men  everywhere  in  these 
States,  a  few  years  back  in  their  lives,  were  hired  laborers.  The  pru 
dent  penniless  beginner  in  the  world  labors  for  wages  awhile  .  .  . 
and  at  length  hires  another  new  beginner  to  help  him.  This  is  the 
just  and  generous  and  prosperous  system  which  opens  the  way  to  all — 
gives .  hope  to  all,  and  consequent  energy  and  progress,  and  improve 
ment  of  condition  to  all." 

Many  years  ago  I  delivered  an  address  to  a  deaf  and  dumb 
audience.  The  congregation  fixed  their  attention  upon  the 
interpreter  at  my  side.  They  looked  at  him.  Through  him 
they  heard  me.  My  ambition  this  afternoon  has  been  to 
efface  myself  and  bid  you  listen  to  the  invisible  orator  who 
stands  by  my  side  with  his  sad  face,  his  resolute  conscience, 
his  human  sympathies,  and  his  simple,  sincere  English. 
What  he  would  say,  if  you  could  hear  him,  would  be,  I  think, 
what  he  said  in  1860  to  the  capitalists  and  workingmen  of 
New  Haven : 

"I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  twenty-five  years  ago  I  was  a 
hired  laborer,  mauling  rails,  at  work  on  a  flatboat — just  what  might 
happen  to  any  poor  man's  son.  I  want  every  man  to  have  the  chance — • 
and  I  believe  a  black  man  is  entitled  to  it — in  which  he  can  better 
his  condition — when  he  may  look  forward  and  hope  to  be  a  hired 
laborer  this  year  and  the  next,  work  for  himself  afterward,  and  finally 
to  hire  men  to  work  for  him.  That  is  the  true  system.  .  .  .  Then, 
you  can  better  your  condition,  and  so  it  may  go  oh  and  on  in  one 
ceaseless  round  so  long  as  man  exists  on  the  face  of  the  earth." 

This  is  Abraham  Lincoln's  solution  of  the  labor  problem. 


ONE  OF  THE  PLAIN  PEOPLE 

HON.    CHAUNCET    M.    DEPEW 

IT  is  eminently  fitting  that  the  birthday  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  should  be  celebrated  by  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  It  was  at  his  call,  as  President,  that  the  first 
seventy-five  thousand  men  enlisted  to  save  the  Union.  After 
ward,  on  other  appeals,  the  cry,  "We  are  coming,  Father 
Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more, ' '  rang  through  every 
city,  village,  and  hamlet  in  the  land;  and  forth  from  the 
fields,  the  workshop,  the  factory,  the  store,  and  the  office  went 
these  followers  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  fight  for  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  Union.  In  every  way  in  which  a  great  ruler  can 
alleviate  the  horrors  of  war  and  care  for  his  soldiers,  Abraham 
Lincoln  rendered  to  them,  as  a  body  and  individually,  all 
the  service  in  his  power.  They  were  ever  in  that  great  heart 
of  his,  and  an  appeal  on  their  behalf  would  cause  him  to  lay 
aside  every  duty,  no  matter  how  great,  to  encourage,  rescue 
or  save. 

We  read  much  in  these  days  of  the  lack  of  opportunity  for 
young  men.  It  is  claimed  that  the  difficulty  of  earning  a 
living  or  of  getting  ahead  increases  year  by  year,  but  to  all 
who  despair,  all  who  are  discouraged,  all  who  have  a  spark 
of  ambition,  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  an  example  and 
inspiration.  There  is  no  youth  in  this  audience  to-night,  and 
very  few,  if  any,  in  all  this  land,  who  are  surrounded  with 
such  discouraging  conditions  as  those  which  were  the  lot  and 
part  of  Abraham  Lincoln  from  the  time  of  his  birth  until 
he  had  passed  his  twenty-fifth  year.  He  was  born  in  a  log 
cabin  of  one  room  with  a  dirt  floor,  on  a  farm  so  sterile  that 
it  was  impossible  for  his  father  to  make  a  living.  When  he 
was  seven  years  old  the  family  moved  upon  government  land 
in  the  forests  of  Indiana,  and  at  that  tender  age  he  assisted 

294 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  295 

his  parents  in  constructing  another  rude  habitation,  which 
had  neither  doors  nor  windows,  and  through  which  swept  the 
rains  of  summer  and  the  snows  of  winter.  He  worked  either 
with  his  father  in  an  effort  to  make  a  clearing  in  the  woods, 
upon  which  might  be  raised  food  for  the  family,  or  else 
tramped  miles  to  work  as  a  farm-hand  'for  distant  neighbors, 
giving  his  wages,  which  were  ever  so  limited,  into  the  family 
fund.  Sickness  carried  off  his  mother,  a  good  woman,  but 
uneducated,  who  did  the  best  she  could  and  probably  died 
from  the  privations  of  frontier  life.  Then,  abandoning  their 
farm,  the  family  moved  again  to  Illinois.  Here  he  once  more 
did  his  best  to  build  a  rude  home  for  the  family,  and  the  rails 
which  he  split  for  a  fence  were  thirty  years  afterward  car 
ried  into  the  Illinois  Convention  which  presented  him  as  a 
candidate  for  President,  and  in  the  campaign  after  his  nom 
ination  took  rank  with  the  things  which  captured  the  popular 
mind  in  the  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too"  campaign  of  Gen 
eral  Harrison,  and  the  "Mill  boy  of  the  Slashes,"  which  kept 
the  name  of  Henry  Clay  a  household  word.  At  twenty-one, 
putting  all  his  earthly  belongings  into  a  handkerchief  tied 
to  a  stick,  he  tramped  to  the  village  of  Salem  to  make  his  own 
way  in  the  world.  He  became  a  clerk  in  a  country  store,  at 
ten  dollars  a  month.  He,  with  other  young  men,  built  a  flat- 
boat  and  stocked  it  with  some  things  on  credit  and  floated 
down  to  New  Orleans.  That  visit  was  one  of  the  milestones 
in  his  career.  He  wandered  one  day  into  the  market-place, 
where  slaves  were  being  publicly  sold.  There  was  a  beautiful 
octoroon  girl  on  the  block.  The  auctioneer  was  calling  off 
her  physical  perfections.  A  rough  crowd  of  brutal  men  were 
exchanging,  with  their  bids,  lecherous  jokes  about  her.  Lin 
coln,  a  tall,  ungainly,  ill-clad  flatboat  man,  shook  his  fist  at 
the  exhibition  and  said,  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance,  I  will  hit 
that  thing  hard."  The  remark  matured  subsequently  in  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 

He  and  a  friend  bought  a  grocery  store  upon  credit.  It 
was  slimly  stocked,  and  they  were  cheated  in  the  bargain,  in 
giving  eight  hundred  dollars  for  the  goods.  His  partner  took 
to  drink  and  became  a  confirmed  drunkard,  while  Lincoln 


296  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

neglected  customers  to  read  and  study  such  few  books  as  he 
could  borrow.  The  goods  disappeared  and  the  firm  became 
bankrupt  without  any  assets.  Then  Lincoln  studied  survey 
ing.  He  managed  to  secure  the  necessary  instruments  and 
a  horse  and  buggy,  and  travelled  the  country,  fixing  boundary 
lines  between  farmers'  lands  and  staking  out  streets  of  bud 
ding  villages  and  towns.  When  he  had  paid  for  his  outfit, 
misfortune  again  befell  him.  The  notes  which  he  and  his 
partner  gave  for  the  store  had  been  sold  immediately  at  a 
tremendous  discount,  and  then  bought  up  subsequently  by 
a  Shylock  money  lender  for  a  few  dollars.  This  money  lender 
now  secured  judgment,  levied  upon  and  sold  Lincoln's  horse, 
wagon,  surveying  instruments,  and  everything  which  he  pos 
sessed.  The  neighbors  were  so  shocked  that  they  refused  to 
bid,  and  a  friend  bought  in  the  outfit,  at  a  small  price,  and 
loaned  it  to  Lincoln  to  pursue  his  profession.  So  that,  at 
twenty-five,  after  all  these  sad  experiences  on  the  farm,  the 
flatboat,  and  the  grocery,  he  found  himself  in  debt.  It  would 
have  been  easy  to  have  escaped  that  obligation.  He  was  so 
advised  by  his  friends,  but  the  answer,  which  was  character 
istic  of  his  life  and  characteristic  of  one  of  the  most  honest 
of  minds,  was,  "I  promised  to  pay."  It  was  many  years 
before  he  was  able  to  clear  off  that  obligation. 

About  this  time  a  young  lady  of  beauty,  family,  and  cul 
ture,  to  whom  he  was  engaged,  contracted  a  fatal  illness,  and 
died  in  his  presence.  His  friends  feared  he  would  lose  his 
mind  with  grief.  It  was  a  sorrow  which  pursued  him  for 
years,, and  from  which  he  never  entirely  recovered.  He  now, 
burdened  with  debt  and  almost  crushed  with  this  pathetic 
tragedy,  practically  started  anew  at  twenty-six  to  study  law. 
In  these  days  a  young  man,  before  he  can  be  admitted  to  the 
bar,  must  have  an  education  of  the  common  school  and  high 
school  or  academy,  which  means  years  of  study  and  oppor 
tunity  for  study.  Before  he  can  be  admitted  to  the  great  law 
schools  he  must  have  received  a  degree  in  a  college  of  liberal 
learning,  and  then  before  he  can  be  graduated  from  the  law 
school  he  must  spend  four  years  in  hard  work.  Lincoln  be 
came  a  great  lawyer,  but  think  of  his  equipment  when  he 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  297 

began  to  study !  He  had  only  about  four  months  of  schooling 
under  five  different  teachers,  scattered  over  several  years, 
and  at  no  period  over  three  weeks  at  a  time.  None  of  these 
teachers  was  equipped  beyond  reading,  writing,  and  simple 
arithmetic.  During  his  life  on  the  farm  he  had  borrowed 
every  book  there  was  in  those  frontier  neighborhoods.  The 
family  Bible  he  read  over  and  over  again.  A  Justice  of  the 
Peace  had  the  "Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana,"  and  that  he 
read  with  the  same  thoroughness.  The  family  moved  from 
Indiana  to  Illinois,  where  the  settlements  were  closer,  and 
when  he  came  to  the  village  of  Salem,  he  succeeded  in  bor 
rowing  Shakespeare,  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  J^sop's 
"Fables/'  Weems'  "Life  of  Washington,"  and  a  crude  "His 
tory  of  the  United  States."  He  read  while  following  the 
plow — to  the  disgust  of  his  employer — on  moonlight  nights, 
lying  upon  his  back  in  the  fields,  while  going  to  and  from  his 
work,  while  on  the  flatboat,  while  a  clerk,  and  while  a  mer 
chant.  He  had  no  teacher  of  style  or  composition.  There 
was  little  paper  in  the  wilderness,  but  he  wrote  compositions 
on  the  wooden  snow  shovel  with  a  piece  of  charcoal,  and 
rubbed  it  off  and  re-wrote,  until  he  had  secured  by  these 
crude  methods  and  by  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  Shakespeare, 
and  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  that  wonderful  style 
in  sinewy  English  which  contributed  to  our  literature  two 
of  its  rarest  gems,  the  Gettysburg  Speech,  and  the  Second 
Inaugural  Address. 

The  following  is  an  illustration  of  his  difficulties  in  finding 
books  for  which  he  was  hungry:  The  rain  came  through 
the  roof  of  the  log  cabin  and  ruined  Weems'  "Life  of  Wash 
ington,"  which  he  had  borrowed  from  a  distant  farmer. 
This  is  the  "Life"  now  entirely  out  of  print,  in  which  is 
the  story  of  the  hatchet  and  the  cherry  tree — a  story  that  has 
not  found  its  way  into  the  regular  Histories  or  any  other 
"Life  of  Washington."  It  is  a  story,  though,  which  does 
more  to  keep  alive  in  the  schools  the  memory  of  the  Father 
of  his  Country,  and  which  has  led  to  more  humor,  more  or 
less  good,  than  any  other  incident  in  his  life.  Lincoln,  with 
a  sad  heart,  returned  the  drenched  volume  to  its  owner, 


298  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

who  made  him  work  in  the  fields  at  twenty-five  cents  a  day 
until  the  price  which  it  originally  cost  had  been  paid  up. 

Lincoln  possessed  one  of  the  most  logical  of  minds  and  a 
singular  faculty  of  grasping  all  the  facts,  and  so  marshalling 
them  as  to  be  irresistible  in  debate.  He  had  that  rarest  gift  of 
the  lawyer — the  talent  to  sift  vast  accumulations  of  material, 
testimony,  and  precedents,  until  he  had  hit  upon  and  eluci 
dated  the  real  point  upon  which  rested  the  success  or  failure 
of  the  case.  He  impressed  these  readings  upon  his  mind  by 
making  speeches  to  the  horse  or  the  oxen  he  was  driving,  to 
the  woods  through  which  he  was  walking  to  his  work,  and  at 
the  noonday  hour  in  the  fields  he  would  mount  a  fence  and 
spout  his  reflections  to  his  fellow-workers. 

A  lawyer  loaned  him  Blackstone's  " Commentaries"  in  four 
volumes.  Every  odd  moment  from  hard  work  of  every  kind, 
necessary  to  secure  the  money  for  a  living,  was  given  to  the 
study  of  this  and  other  elementary  works,  until  he  had  thor 
oughly  mastered  them  and  the  principles  of  law.  He  finally 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  in  training,  culture,  and  equip 
ment  he  differed  from  most  of  his  associates.  Not  only  that, 
but  his  ethics  of  practice  were  antagonistic  to  those  of  all 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  A  case  which  he  believed 
wrong,  he  would  not  take.  If,  during  the  course  of  his  in- 
vestigationSj  he  learned  that  his  client  had  deceived  him,  he 
would  decline  to  proceed.  He  cared  little  for  money,  and  his 
charges  were  only  sufficient  for  his  limited  necessities.  Much 
of  his  practice  was  on  behalf  of  the  poor  whom  he  thought 
wronged  and  from  whom  he  could  expect  no  reward.  With 
out  the  opportunities  of  the  law  school  or  the  law  office, 
without  the  reading  of  a  well-equipped  library,  he  was  always 
deficient  in  ability  to  cite  precedents  and  decisions  upon  which 
the  bar  and  the  bench  so  largely  depend.  But  he  knew  by 
heart  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  and,  because  of  his 
years  of  communion  with  the  plain  people,  he  was  more 
familiar  with  ordinary  human  nature  than  any  man  in  his 
Circuit.  With  the  ability  to  make  difficult  things  plain  to 
the  humblest  understanding,  and  to  clarify  the  most  murky 
atmosphere  of  conflicting  testimony,  he  added  humor  and  a 


^^r^     **>*"* 

9^   ^  i  ^-^-/~! 


//  7~.^^ 
s.^f 

&rfi^. 


7< 


X 


f  ^  /I 


Facsimile  of  First  Page  of  Victor  Hugo's  Letter  Accepting  Membership 
on  the  Committee  of  the  French  Democracy 

(Formed  to  commemorate  the  services  of  Lincoln  to  the  cause  of  the  Republic 
and  of  liberal  ideas) 


Facsimile  of  the  Second  Page  of  Victor  Hugo's  Letter 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  299 

faculty  for  apt  illustration  cultivated  by  his  Bible,  Bunyan's 
" Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  JEsop's  "Fables,"  and  he  pos 
sessed  an  exhaustless  fund  of  anecdotes  which  nobody  could 
tell  so  well  or  apply  so  happily  as  Abraham  Lincoln.  When 
he  left  the  bar,  after  twenty-three  years  of  practice,  to  become 
President  of  the  United  States,  he  stood  among  the  first  of 
the  legal  lights  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

But  it  was  in  riding  the  circuit  during  that  quarter  of  a 
century,  that  he  was  preparing  unconsciously  for  the  Presi 
dency.  He  told  me  that  at  the  County  towns  when  Court 
was  held,  the  judge,  lawyers,  litigants,  witnesses,  and  grand 
and  petit  jurors  would  sit  up  all  night  at  the  hotel,  telling 
stories  of  things  which  had  happened  in  the  lives  of  an 
original  frontier  people,  and  he  said  they  were  better,  more 
to  the  point,  and  infinitely  stronger  for  illustration  and  the 
enforcement  of  argument,  than  all  the  stories  and  anecdotes 
which  were  ever  invented.  Human  nature  is  best  studied, 
public  questions  are  more  keenly  discussed,  character  is  better 
exhibited,  in  the  forum  of  the  country  grocery  or  drug  store 
than  anywhere  else.  There  gather  the  elders,  more  or  less 
wise,  the  lawyers  looking  for  acquaintances,  popularity  and 
clients,  and  the  young  men  listening  and  absorbing.  Lincoln, 
with  his  wonderful  gift  of  humor,  anecdote,  and  argument, 
was  for  years  the  idol  of  that  forum.  It  was  there  he  learned 
the  lesson,  invaluable  to  him  when  dealing  afterwards  with 
mighty  problems  of  state  which  required  for  their  solution 
the  support  of  the  people,  how  to  so  state  his  case  and  make 
his  appeal  that  it  would  find  a  response  in  the  humblest  homes 
in  every  part  of  the  land. 

Lincoln's  characteristic  as  a  lawyer  was,  if  possible,  to 
get  his  client  to  settle,  to  bring  together  antagonists,  and  to 
compose  their  differences.  At  that  early  time  lawyers  habitu 
ally  encouraged  litigation.  Lincoln  discouraged  it,  whenever 
possible.  He  believed  in  peace  in  the  family  and  good  will 
and  good  neighborhood  in  the  town.  He  believed  it  to  be 
a  lawyer's  duty,  and  that  he  was  aiding  the  best  interests 
of  his  client,  to  procure  a  settlement  without  the  expense  of 
litigation.  He  told  an  amusing  story  in  this  line.  He  said 


300  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

that  a  farmer  came  into  his  office  one  day  insisting  on  divorce 
proceedings  being  commenced  at  once.  Lincoln  said,  "What 
is  the  difficulty?"  The  farmer  answered,  "We  have  got 
along  so  well  that  we  are  now  rich  enough  to  abandon  the 
log  cabin  and  we  have  built  a  frame  house.  When  the  ques 
tion  came  about  painting,  I  wanted  it  painted  white  like  our 
neighbors,  but  my  wife  preferred  brown.  Our  disputes  finally 
became  quarrels.  She  has  broken  crockery,  throwing  it  at 
my  head,  and  poured  scalding  tea  down  my  back,  and  I  want 
a  divorce. "  Lincoln  said,  "My  friend,  man  and  wife  should 
live  together,  if  possible,  for  their  own  sake  and  for  the 
children's,  and  endure  a  great  deal.  Now  go  back,  keep  your 
temper,  and  compromise  with  your  wife.  You  could  not  have 
lived  together  all  these  years  without  learning  some  basis 
upon  which  you  can  compromise  any  difficulty;  and  don't 
come  back  for  a  month."  At  the  end  of  four  weeks  the 
farmer  returned  and  said,  ' l  Lincoln,  you  need  n  't  bring  that 
suit.  My  wife  and  I  have  compromised."  "What  is  the 
compromise?"  "Well,"  said  the  farmer,  "we  are  going  to 
paint  the  house  brown." 

Years  of  diligent  study,  and  this  habit,  continued  from 
early  youth,  of  expressing  his  ideas  aloud  and  making 
speeches  alike  to  trees  and  to  people,  made  him  attractive  to 
the  local  leaders  of  his  party.  His  speech  when  nominated 
for  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  was  a  model  of  brevity.  It  was 
substantially  this:  "I  am  in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff,  a 
national  bank,  and  internal  improvements.  If  you  like  my 
principles,  I  should  be  glad  to  serve  you."  With  the  excep 
tion  of  the  slavery  issue,  that  speech,  made  in  1834,  seventy- 
five  years  ago,  has  been  practically  the  platform  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  since  its  formation  until  to-day. 

Lincoln  was  of  slow  growth.  There  was  nothing  precocious 
about  him.  He  matured  along  fine  lines,  and  each  year  added 
to  his  mental  stature.  He  made  little  impression  during  his 
four  terms  in  the  Legislature,  except  for  diligence  and  intelli 
gence.  He  served  one  term  in  Congress.  There  he  displayed 
the  prevailing  characteristic  of  his  political  life.  He  expressed 
his  opinions  regardless  of  consequences.  The  country  was 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  301 

aflame  for  the  Mexican  War.  The  American  people  are  always 
with  the  President  against  a  foreign  enemy.  He  knew  that 
war  had  been  provoked  in  order  to  take  territory  away  from 
Mexico  for  the  extension  of  slavery.  He  followed  in  the  lead 
of  Tom  Corwin  and  made  a  vigorous  speech  denouncing  the 
policy  and  purpose  of  the  war.  Corwin 's  speech  retired  him 
permanently  from  public  life,  and  Lincoln  was  not  again  a 
candidate  for  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  quality  of 
his  mind,  and  moral  courage,  were  happily  illustrated  in  the 
famous  joint  debates  between  Douglas  and  himself.  Douglas 
was  the  most  formidable  debater,  either  in  the  Senate  or  on 
the  platform,  in  the  country.  He  was  superbly  prepared, 
equipped  with  every  art  of  the  orator,  resourceful  beyond 
anyone  of  his  time,  and  unscrupulous  in  the  presentation  of 
his  own  case  and  the  misrepresentation  of  that  of  his  op 
ponent.  There  was  at  that  period  a  passionate  devotion, 
among  the  people,  to  the  Union,  but  very  little  sentiment 
against  slavery.  The  Union  was  paramount  above  every 
thing.  There  was  no  disposition  to  interfere  with  slavery 
where  it  was.  The  only  unity  on  anti-slavery  was  against 
its  extension  into  the  Territories.  Lincoln  prepared  his  first 
speech  in  this  debate  with  great  care,  and  then  submitted  it 
to  the  party  leaders  who  had  put  him  forward  and  who  con 
stituted  his  advisers.  When  he  came  to  the  sentence,  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  Gov 
ernment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free," 
they  unanimously  advised  him  to  cut  it  out.  They  told  him 
that  Douglas  would  take  advantage  of  it  by  appealing  to  the 
sentiment  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  as  paramount  to 
anything  else,  and  that  he  would  charge  Lincoln  with  being  in 
favor  of  dissolving  the  Union  in  order  to  free  the  negroes. 
Lincoln  said:  "We  are  entering  upon  a  great  moral  cam 
paign  of  education.  I  am  not  advocating  Mr.  Seward  's  higher 
law,  but  I  am  advocating  the  restriction  of  slavery  within  its 
present  limits,  and  the  preservation  of  the  new  Territories  for 
free  labor.  That  is  more  than  immediate  success,  and  on  that 
question  we  will  ultimately  succeed."  Douglas  did  attack 
Lincoln,  making  this  point,  as  the  advisers  thought,  his  main 


302  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

subject,  and  it  was  one  of  the  principal  elements  in  his  elec 
tion.  Once  more  the  moral  quality  and  courage  of  Lincoln 
came  out,  when  he  submitted  to  his  advisers,  putting  to  Doug 
las  the  question  whether  the  people  of  the  Territories  could  ex 
clude  slavery  by  their  territorial  legislation.  Douglas  was 
claiming  that  it  was  a  great  chance  for  popular  sovereignty  to 
repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820  which  prohibited 
slavery  in  the  Territories,  by  leaving  the  question  to  the  people. 
Lincoln's  advisers  said,  "He  will  answer,  'Yes.'  "  "Well," 
said  Lincoln,  "by  answering  'No,'  it  will  ruin  his  whole  pro 
gramme.  If  he  answers  'Yes/  that  will  alienate  the  South, 
prevent  his  nomination  for  President,  and  split  the  Democratic 
Party."  The  results  were  as  Lincoln  predicted.  Douglas 
was  elected  Senator.  The  South  bolted  the  Democratic  Con 
vention,  the  northern  half  nominating  Douglas,  the  southern 
half  Breckinridge.  But  what  Lincoln  did  not  anticipate,  the 
Republican  Party  nominated  him  and  he  was  elected. 

None  of  our  Presidents  have  ever  faced  such  conditions  and 
problems  as  Lincoln  encountered  when  inaugurated.  Five 
States  had  already  seceded.  A  Confederate  government  had 
been  formed,  and  its  whole  machinery  was  in  operation 
with  a  President,  Cabinet,  Congress,  and  Constitution.  The 
arsenals  were  stripped  of  arms,  the  forts  of  guns,  a  large 
number  of  the  ablest  army  officers  were  deserting  to  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  but  his  initial  difficulties  were  with  his 
own  household.  With  the  courage  born  of  true  greatness,  he 
summoned  to  his  Cabinet,  statesmen  who  had  been,  for  years, 
national  leaders  and  who  were  his  contestants  in  the  national 
Convention.  As  far  as  possible,  he  drew  them  equally  from 
those  who  had  been  Whigs  and  Democrats  prior  to  the  forma 
tion  of  the  Republican  party  four  years  before,  and  who  had 
come  together  on  the  question  of  the  extension  of  slavery, 
though  they  differed  upon  every  other  matter  of  governmental 
policy.  Seward,  Chase,  and  Cameron  were  household  words 
in  the  country.  The  President  was  hardly  known.  These 
strong,  cultured,  ambitious,  and  self-centred  men,  veterans  in 
the  public  service,  regarded  with  very  little  respect  this 
homely,  uncouth,  and  almost  unknown  frontiersman  who  had, 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  303 

as  they  thought,  become  President  by  accident,  when  that 
great  honor  belonged  to  each  of  them.  They  thought  that 
the  President  would  be  a  cipher,  and  the  struggle  would 
be  only  between  them  as  to  which,  as  the  stronger,  would  so 
dominate  the  administration  as  to  be  practically  President 
of  the  United  States.  Lincoln  understood  this  and  them 
perfectly.  After  a  month  Mr.  Seward  presented  a  written 
proposition  to  the  President  which  meant  practically  that, 
to  unite  the  country,  war  should  be  provoked  with  Eng 
land  and  France,  and  that  he  in  those  difficulties  was  quite 
willing  to  undertake  the  administration  of  affairs.  There 
is  no  President,  including  Washington,  who  would  not  on 
such  a  letter  have  either  surrendered  or  called  for  the 
resignation  of  his  Cabinet  Minister.  But  Lincoln's  answer 
was  the  perfection  of  confident  strength  and  diplomacy. 
He  wanted  the  services  of  the  best  equipped  man  in  the 
country  for  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  idol  of  nearly  a 
majority  of  his  party,  and  so  he  said,  in  effect,  "The  Euro 
pean  war  will  lead  to  their  siding  with  the  South  and  dis 
solving  the  Union.  We  are  to  have  a  civil  war,  and  one  is 
enough  at  once.  You  can  perform  invaluable  service  in  your 
great  department.  I  have  been  elected  President  and  will 
discharge,  myself,  the  duties  of  that  office."  He  knew  that 
Chase  was  disparaging  him  in  conversation  and  trying  to 
prevent  his  nomination  in  order  to  get  it  for  himself,  but 
he  ignored  these  facts  and  supported  Chase  until  his  finan 
cial  schemes,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  given  the 
country  credit  and  money,  and  then  promoted  him  out  of 
the  Cabinet  and  out  of  politics  by  making  him  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Seward  early  recognized  the  master  mind  of  the  President, 
and  that  behind  an  exterior  of  deference  and  extreme  amiabil 
ity  was  the  confident  judgment  and  giant  grip  of  a  natural 
leader  of  men.  Thenceforth  this  most  accomplished  of  the 
orators,  rhetoricians,  and  dialecticians  of  his  day,  as  well 
as  one  of  its  greatest  statesmen,  became  the  devoted  assistant 
of  his  chief. 

Mr.   Greeley,  one  of  the  greatest  journalists  the  United 


304.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

States  has  ever  produced,  and  possessing  influence  never 
since  wielded  by  a  single  man  upon  public  opinion,  hated 
slavery  and  loved  peace.  In  practical  matters  Mr.  Greeley 
was  very  credulous,  and  some  of  the  shrewd  and  unscrupulous 
Southern  leaders  made  him  believe  that  they  were  empowered 
to  treat  for  peace  upon  honorable  terms.  Lincoln  knew  better. 
He  suggested  to  Mr.  Greeley  that  he  find  out  by  a  personal 
interview,  but  soon  discovered  that  the  negotiations  between 
these  alleged  Confederate  Commissioners  and  the  great 
journalist  were  part  of  a  scheme  on  their  part  to  gain  time. 
He  solved  that  problem  in  a  characteristic  way  by  suddenly 
issuing  a  proclamation,  "to  whom  it  may  concern,"  saying 
that  anybody  authorized  to  treat  on  behalf  of  the  Confederate 
Government  would  have  safe  conduct  through  the  United 
States  to  Washington  and  return,  and  the  Commissioners 
disappeared.  The  habit  of  tireless  industry  by  day  and 
night,  patient  research,  and  clear  analysis,  were  applied  by 
the  President  to  the  problems  of  the  war.  The  great  wars 
of  Europe  are  carried  on  by  the  general  staff — the  civil 
government  at  home  forwarding  recruits  and  furnishing  sup 
plies — but  we  had  no  machinery  or  equipment  for  a  great 
war.  We  had  no  general  staff.  Officers  had  to  be  tried 
at  fearful  loss  of  life  upon  the  battle-field,  and  jealousies 
among  them  embarrassed  operations;  but  in  the  White 
House  was  developed  a  great  strategist  and  commander  with 
neither  partisanship  nor  prejudice.  He  sifted  the  claims  of 
the  different  generals,  and  one  by  one  eliminated  them  until 
he  placed  Grant  in  supreme  command.  He  knew  the  posi 
tion  all  over  the  vast  region  of  the  War,  of  both  his  own 
troops  and  those  of  the  enemy.  He  studied  the  maps  until 
the  roads  for  marching,  and  transportation  facilities  for  con 
centrating,  were  better  known  by  him  than  by  any  of  the  mili 
tary  chiefs.  His  guiding  hand  and  suggestive  brain  prevented 
many  a  disaster  and  turned  many  a  defeat  into  victory. 
He  familiarized  himself  with  every  department  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and,  while  giving  full  credit  to  his  Cabinet,  he  was 
still  the  master  in  the  despatches  and  negotiations  finally 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  305 

agreed  upon  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  in  the  operations 
of  the  Treasury,  the  War,  and  the  Navy  Department. 

It  was  vital  to  the  success  of  the  Union  that  the  Confed 
eracy  should  not  be  assisted  by  foreign  interference.  He 
knew  that  it  had  been  the  object  of  European  statesmen, 
since  the  Holy  Alliance  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  to  divide, 
if  possible,  the  United  States,  and  prevent  a  great  world 
power  growing  up  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  He  might 
have  declared  war  on  account  of  the  equipment  of  the  Con 
federate  cruiser  Alabama  in  British  ports.  England  might 
have  had  a  pretext  for  war  when  Captain  Wilkes  took  the 
Confederate  Commissioners  from  a  British  vessel.  But  in 
the  one  case  he  trusted  to  diplomacy  and  delay,  and  in  the 
other  he  promptly  decided  that  the  American  officer  had  no 
right  to  go  upon  the  deck  of  a  British  ship,  sailing  under 
the  British  flag,  and  seize  its  passengers,  and  promptly  sur 
rendered  the  Confederate  Commissioners.  With  the  feeling 
that  there  was  in  the  country,  at  that  time,  of  bitterness 
and  resentment  against  Great  Britain,  no  man  but  Abraham 
Lincoln  could  have  prevented  a  war.  I  have  recently  learned 
that  unknown  to  his  Cabinet  he  would  many  an  evening 
drop  into  the  house  of  the  British  Minister,  and  the  effect 
of  those  consultations  sent  direct  to  the  other  side  in  con 
fidence  must  have  been  of  incalculable  influence  in  causing 
British  statesmen  to  keep  hands  off,  and  especially  in  so 
advising  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  that  they  re 
mained  through  all  our  revolution  staunchly  our  friends. 

Lincoln  hated  slavery,  but  his  love  for  the  Union  was 
greater.  If  he  could  save  the  Union  by  freeing  all  the  slaves, 
or  part  of  them,  or  none  of  them,  he  would  so  save  the  Union. 
I  remember  the  gathering,  and  then  the  full  force,  of  the 
storm  against  him  because  he  would  not  free  the  slaves. 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  Horace  Greeley,  Benjamin  Wade,  Henry 
Winter  Davis,  and  all  the  old  Abolitionists  like  Wendell 
Phillips,  and  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  were  the  mighty  lead 
ers  of  a  formidable  and  an  intelligent  assault  which  few, 
if  any,  but  him  could  have  resisted.  He  knew  that  at  least 


306  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

one-half  of  the  Union  Army  cared  nothing  about  slavery, 
but  were  willing  to  die  for  the  Union.  He  knew  that  New 
York,  Connecticut,  and  New  Jersey  would  be  uncertain,  if 
the  issue  were  for  slavery.  He  knew  that  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  soldiers  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Maryland, 
Missouri,  and  Virginia — who  were  among  the  best  troops  he 
had — might  join  the  Confederate  Army  and  carry  with  them 
their  States  if  he  attempted  to  free  the  slaves  before  they 
saw  it  was  a  necessity  of  war.  The  folly  of  these  brilliant 
reformers  is  best  exhibited  by  an  incident  which  I  knew, 
when  they  answered  this  statement  by  saying  it  would  be 
a  gain  to  the  cause  if  the  border  States  were  all  lost  and 
their  troops  with  them.  When,  however,  with  knowledge 
greater  than  all  of  them,  with  a  wisdom  surer  than  any  of 
them,  with  a  contact  and  understanding  with  the  plain  peo 
ple  of  the  country  such  as  none  of  them  possessed,  he  saw 
the  time  had  come  when  the  enemy  must  be  deprived  of  the 
workers  of  the  field  who  were  supplying  their  armies,  and 
the  servants  in  their  camps  who  were  attending  to  their 
wants  and  relieving  their  fighting  force,  he  issued  the  im 
mortal  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  and  the  doom  of  the 
Confederacy  was  sealed. 

Justice  and  mercy  were  Lincoln's  supreme  characteristics. 
He  bore  no  enmities,  cherished  no  ill  will,  and  never  exe 
cuted  any  revenges.  While  the  whole  North  was  raging 
against  those  who  had  rebelled,  and  millions  believed  that 
the  destruction  of  their  properties,  the  devastation  of  their 
lands,  and  the  loss  of  their  slaves,  which  were  their  main  prop 
erty,  was  a  just  punishment  for  endeavoring  to  break  up  the 
Union,  Lincoln  appreciated  thoroughly  the  conditions  which 
had  impelled  them  to  rebel.  In  the  early  days  of  the  War 
he  argued  earnestly  with  his  Cabinet  and  the  leaders  in 
Congress  for  authorization  to  offer  the  South  four  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  as  a  compensation  for  freeing  their 
slaves.  To  the  answer  that  the  country  could  not  stand  the 
expense,  he  said,  "The  War  is  costing  four  millions  a  day 
and  it  will  certainly  last  one  hundred  days."  After  he  had 
visited  Richmond  when  the  War  was  over,  and  returned  to 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  307 

Washington,  he  again  urged  this  proposition,  saying  that 
the  South  was  completely  exhausted  and  this  four  hundred 
million  would  be  the  best  investment  the  country  could 
make  in  at  once  restoring  peace  and  good  will  between  all 
sections,  and  furnishing  the  capital  to  the  Southern  people 
to  restore  their  homes,  recuperate  their  fortunes  and  start 
their  industries.  But  in  the  bitter  passions  of  the  hour  the 
proposition  received  no  support. 

A  reputation  for  wit  and  humor  or  story-telling  has  been 
fatal  to  many  brilliant  Americans.     The  people  of  the  United 
States  prefer  serious  men,  even  if  stupid  and  platitudinous 
in  speech,  to  those  who,  no  matter  how  brilliant  in  all  ways, 
are  nevertheless  famous  for  humor  and  anecdote.     Lincoln 
survived   because   this   faculty   and   habit   did   not   become 
known  until  after  he  was  President.     I  heard  him  tell   a 
great  many  stories  and  every   one  of  them  enforced  and 
clinched  the  argument  stronger  than  hours  of  logic.    We 
must  remember  that  there  was  no  civil  service,  that  there 
were  more   appointments  to   office   in   the   creation   of  the 
internal   revenue    system    and   in   the    customs    a   hundred 
fold  then,  than  had  ever  been  before;  and  that  an  army 
of  two  millions  of  men  had  to  be  officered,  and  the  ques 
tion  of  the   appointment  and  promotion   of  these  officers 
come  to  the  President;  and  the  same  of  a  large  navy.     The 
pressure  of  office-seekers  who  came  in  swarms  led  by  their 
senators  and  congressmen,  would  have  crushed  him,  except 
for  his  faculty  of  turning  them  off  with  an  apt  story  or  a 
joke.     A  political  leader  in  Maryland  at  that  period   ap 
peared  nearly  every  day  at  the  White  House  with  a  regi 
ment  of  hungry  applicants.     Baltimore  was  only  an  hour 
away,  and  it  was  so  little  expense  that  they  could  descend 
like  an  army  of  locusts  at  frequent  intervals  at  the  White 
House.     The  President,  wearied  until  even  his  patience  was 
exhausted,  directed  one  day  that  they  should  all  be  admitted 
at   once.     They   filled  the   large   room   in  which  he   stood. 
He  was  far  from  well  and  said,  "Gentlemen,  I  at  last  have 
something  that  I  can  give  you  all."    With  one  acclaim  they 
commenced  saying,  "Thank  you,  Mr.  President!     Thank  you, 


308  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Mr.  President !"  and  their  leader  started  to  make  a  speech. 
The  President  said,  "It  is  the  smallpox.  The  doctor  tells 
me  I  have  varioloid!"  The  room  was  emptied  in  a  second. 
A  strong  body  of  temperance  people  came  to  him  after 
General  Grant  had  won  many  victories  and  he  was  contem 
plating  making  him  Commander-in-chief, — protested  and  even 
went  so  far  as  to  demand  Grant's  dismissal  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  a  hard  drinker.  Lincoln  answered,  "Ladies  and 
Gentlemen,  I  wish  you  would  kindly  tell  me  the  brand  of 
whiskey  General  Grant  drinks.  I  would  like  to  send  a  few 
bottles  to  my  other  generals."  He  rarely,  with  all  his  wit, 
humor,  and  faculty  for  apt  illustration,  said  anything  which 
would  hurt  the  feelings  of  his  hearer. 

He  cared  little  for  poetry,  but  in  early  youth  he  had  found 
in  an  old  almanac  a  poem  which  he  committed  to  memory  and 
repeated  often  all  through  his  life.  It  was  entitled  ''Immor 
tality,"  and  the  first  verse  was: 

"Oh,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud? 
Like  a  swift-fleeting  meteor — a  fast-flying  cloud — 
A  flash  of  the  lightning — a  break  of  the  wave — 
He  passeth  from  life  to  his  rest  in  a  grave." 

He  reverenced  the  sentiment  of  that  poem.  One  day  a  Con 
gressman  with  a  delegation  of  constituents  who  wanted  offices, 
came  into  the  room  very  drunk,  and  commenced  a  speech 
to  the  President  by  saying,  "Oh!  why  should  the  spirit  of 
mortal  be  proud?"  The  President  answered  coldly,  "I  see 
no  reason  whatever,"  and  dismissed  them.  Probably  rem 
iniscent  of  the  loved  and  lost,  he  often  repeated  this  verse 
from  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes: 

"The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  prest 

In  their  bloom; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb!" 

"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all."  This 
line,  in  one  of  his  Inaugurals,  summed  up  the  philosophy  of 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  309 

his  life.  He  was  six  feet  four  inches  in  height,  with  muscles 
of  steel,  and  in  early  life  among  the  rough,  cruel,  hard- 
drinking  youth  of  the  neighborhood  was  the  strongest  of 
them  all;  but  his  strength  was  always  used  to  protect  the 
weak  against  the  strong,  and  to  humble  the  bully,  who  is 
the  terror  of  such  communities.  During  his  youth  and  early 
manhood  he  lived  where  drinking  was  so  common  that  it 
was  the  habit,  and  the  young  men  were  all  addicted  to 
whiskey  and  tobacco-chewing,  but  the  singular  purity  of 
his  nature  was  such,  that  notwithstanding  the  ridicule  of 
his  surroundings,  he  never  used  alcohol  or  tobacco.  When 
President,  he  so  often  reversed  the  sentences  of  court  mar- 
tials  which  condemned  convicted  soldiers  to  death,  that  the 
generals  complained  bitterly.  I  heard  General  Sherman  at 
one  of  his  birthday  dinners,  when  asked  by  the  generals 
present  how  he  got  over  these  pardons,  as  the  findings  of 
the  Court  had  to  be  sent  to  the  President  for  approval,  an 
swer  grimly,  "I  shot  them  first. " 

The  day  before  election,  in  1864,  when  to  the  anxieties  in 
the  field  were  added  those  of  the  canvass,  he  heard  of  a 
widow  whose  five  sons  had  enlisted  and  all  been  killed,  and 
wrote  to  her  in  his  own  hand  one  of  the  most  pathetic  letters 
of  condolence  there  is  in  such  literature. 

He  is  our  only  President  who  came  to  that  great  office 
from  absolutely  original  American  frontier  conditions.  Our 
early  Presidents  were  landed  aristocrats  or  the  products 
of  the  great  colleges  of  the  country.  Even  the  least  equipped 
of  our  chief  magistrates  had  opportunities  for  culture  from 
the  outside  which  amounted  to  a  liberal  education,  but  this 
man  of  the  log  cabin  and  the  woods,  having  had  the  ad 
vantages  of  neither  teachers,  nor  schools,  nor  guides  in  the 
selection  of  books,  courses  of  reading,  or  curriculum  of  study, 
before  death  removed  him  from  the  presidency  towered  high 
among  the  cultured,  the  statesmen,  and  all  the  gifted  genius 
of  the  country,  in  both  ideas  and  expression. 

I  first  saw  Lincoln  when  he  stepped  off  his  car  for  a  few 
minutes  at  Peekskill,  while  on  his  way  to  Washington  for 
his  inauguration.  He  was  cheerful  and  light  hearted,  though 


310  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  travelled  through  crowds,  many  of  whom  were  enemies, 
part  of  the  time  in  secret,  and  all  the  time  in  danger  of 
assassination.  I  met  him  frequently  three  years  afterwards, 
when  care,  anxiety,  and  overwork  had  made  him  look  prema 
turely  aged.  I  was  one  of  the  Committee  in  charge  of  the 
funeral  train  which  was  bearing  his  body  to  his  home,  while 
on  its  way  through  the  State  of  New  York.  The  hostile 
hosts  of  four  years  before  were  now  standing  about  the  road 
way  with  bared  heads,  weeping.  As  we  sped  over  the  rails 
at  night,  the  scene  was  the  most  pathetic  ever  witnessed. 
At  every  cross-roads  the  glare  of  innumerable  torches  illu 
mined  the  whole  population,  from  age  to  infancy,  kneeling 
on  the  ground,  and  their  clergymen  leading  in  prayers  and 
hymns.  The  coffin  was  placed  in  the  capitol  at  Albany  that 
the  Governor,  State  Officers,  and  Legislature  might  have  a 
farewell  look  at  the  great  President.  The  youthful  confi 
dence  of  my  first  view  was  gone,  also  the  troubled  and  worn 
look  of  the  closing  years  of  his  labors,  but  there  rested  upon 
the  pallid  face  and  noble  brow  an  expression  in  death  of 
serenity,  peace,  and  happiness. 

We  are  celebrating  within  a  few  months  of  each  other  the 
ter-centenary  of  Milton  and  the  centenaries  of  Poe  and  Dar 
win.  Our  current  literature  of  the  daily,  weekly,  and 
monthly  press  is  full  of  eulogy  of  the  Puritan  poet,  of  his 
influence  upon  English  literature  and  the  English  language, 
and  of  his  immortal  work,  "Paradise  Lost."  There  are  not 
in  this  vast  audience  twenty  people  who  have  read  "Paradise 
Lost/'  while  there  is  scarcely  a  man,  woman,  or  child  in 
the  United  States  who  has  not  read  Lincoln's  "Speech  at 
Gettysburg."  Few  gathered  to  pay  tribute  to  that  remark 
able  genius,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  and  yet  in  every  school  house 
in  the  land  to-day  the  children  are  reciting  or  hearing  read 
extracts  from  the  address  of  Lincoln.  Darwin  carved  out  a 
new  era  in  scientific  research  and  established  the  truth  of 
one  of  the  most  beneficent  principles  for  the  progress  and 
growth  of  the  world.  Yet  Darwin's  fame  and  achievements 
are  for  the  select  few  in  the  higher  realms  of  liberal  learn 
ing.  But  for  Lincoln — the  acclaim  goes  up  to  him  to-day 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMEMORATION  311 

as  one  of  the  few  foremost  men  of  all  the  ages,  from  states 
men  and  men  of  letters  in  every  land,  from  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  of  the  Legislatures,  from  the  seats  of  justice, 
from  colleges  and  universities,  and  above  and  beyond  all, 
from  the  homes  of  the  plain  people  of  the  United  States. 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION 

THE  city  of  Boston  had  an  elaborate  official  celebration 
under  the  direction  of  a  Committee  of  Twenty-five,  ap 
pointed  by  the  Honorable  Geo.  A.  Hibbard,  Mayor  of  Boston, 
of  which  committee  Mr.  Bernard  J.  Rothwell  was  Chairman, 
and  Colonel  J.  Payson  Bradley,  Secretary.  The  Committee 
was  composed  of  the  leading  citizens,  and  under  its  auspices, 
special  and  numerous  celebrations  were  planned  and  carried 
out  throughout  the  city. 

On  the  morning  of  the  Centenary  day,  commemorative  ex 
ercises  were  held  in  all  of  the  schools,  well-known  speakers 
appearing  upon  the  programmes ;  the  general  idea  of  the  Bos 
ton  Committee  being — as  was  the  prevailing  desire  elsewhere — 
to  make  the  celebration  not  only  a  tribute  and  a  memorial,  but 
an  educational  force,  disseminating  among  the  younger  genera 
tion  knowledge  of  the  life,  the  ideals,  and  the  deeds  of  Lin 
coln.  One  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand  school  children 
took  part  in  the  observances  of  the  day. 

Another  feature  of  the  morning  celebration  was  the  joint 
session,  at  noon,  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  Massachusetts,  commemorative  of  the  day — the  Honorable 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  United  States  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts,  delivering  the  impressive  oration. 

The  afternoon  was  given  over  to  celebrations  by  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  and  the  various  other  patriotic  societies, 
while  in  the  evening  a  great  mass-meeting  gathered  at  Sym 
phony  Hall.  Here  crowds  stood  in  the  streets  for  hours,  wait 
ing  for  the  doors  to  open  at  7 :30  o  'clock ;  and  the  big  edifice 
was  filled  and  overflowing  in  less  than  ten  minutes,  with  twice 
as  many  people  unable  to  get  into  the  building  and  being 
turned  away.  Major  Henry  L.  Higginson  acted  as  permanent 
chairman  of  the  meeting.  Upon  the  platform,  in  addition  to 
the  speakers  of  the  occasion,  were  seated  Governor  Draper, 
members  of  his  staff,  and  representatives  of  practically  every 

315 


316  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

line  of  City  and  State  activity.  Members  of  the  Grand  Army 
Posts  of  Boston  were  present,  and  their  colors  were  planted  on 
either  side  of  the  stage.  A  section  of  the  auditorium  was  re 
served  for  these  veterans  of  the  Civil  War. 

Here  the  oration  was  delivered  by  the  Honorable  John  D. 
Long,  Ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a  former  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  and  the  author  of  the  famous  ' '  Battle  Hymn  of  the 
Republic, "  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe,  read  an  original  poem  on 
Lincoln.  Other  features  of  the  meeting  were  an  address  by 
Honorable  Geo.  A.  Hibbard,  Mayor  of  Boston,  and  the  read 
ing  of  the  Governor's  Proclamation  by  Colonel  J.  Payson 
Bradley,  Secretary  of  the  Lincoln  Day  Committee. 

The  city  was  dotted  with  flags ;  they  hung  from  the  immense 
public  buildings,  and  waved  from  windows  and  balconies  of 
private  homes ;  while  in  the  harbor  the  foreign  and  American 
vessels  observed  the  day  by  flying  their  flags — tow-boats,  fer 
ries,  and  fishing  boats  joining  in  this  silent  memorial. 


A  VISION 

JULIA   WAKD   HOWE 

THROUGH  the  dim  pageant  of  the  years 
A  wondrous  tracery  appears: 
A  cabin  of  the  western  wild 
Shelters  in  sleep  a  new-born  child. 

Nor  nurse,  nor  parent  dear,  can  know 
The  way  those  infant  feet  must  go; 
And  yet  a  nation's  help  and  hope 
Are  sealed  within  that  horoscope. 

Beyond  is  toil  for  daily  bread, 
And  thought,  to  noble  issues  led; 
And  courage,  arming  for  the  morn 
For  whose  behest  this  man  was  born. 

A  man  of  homely,  rustic  ways, 
Yet  he  achieves  the  forum's  praise, 
And  soon  earth's  highest  meed  has  won, 
The  seat  and  sway  of  Washington. 

No  throne  of  honors  and  delights; 
Distrustful  days  and  sleepless  nights, 
To  struggle,  suffer,  and  aspire, 
Like  Israel,  led  by  cloud  and  fire. 

A  treacherous  shot,  a  sob  of  rest, 
A  martyr's  palm  upon  his  breast, 
A  welcome  from  the  glorious  seat 
Where  blameless  souls  of  heroes  meet; 

And,  thrilling  through  unmeasured  days, 
A  song  of  gratitude  and  praise; 
A  cry  that  all  the  earth  shall  heed, 
To  God,  who  gave  him  for  our  need. 
317 


THE  GREAT  PACIFICATOR 

HON.    JOHN   D.    LONG 

T  II  TE  are  here  to  commemorate  the  one  hundredth  birth- 
V  V  day  of  Abraham  Lincoln — a  great  and  good  man  in 
the  simple,  fundamental  sense  of  the  words.  We  recall  that 
supreme  life,  that  magnanimous  soul  full  of  charity  and  with 
out  malice.  His  nigged  face,  his  lank,  homely  figure,  rise 
before  us  transfigured  to  a  beauty  beyond  that  of  the  statued 
Apollo  in  yonder  niche,  as  the  beating  heart  transcends  the 
lifeless  marble. 

The  personal  appearance  of  the  famous  men  of  history 
is  always  a  factor  in  our  ideal  of  them.  In  the  mind's  eye 
we  picture  Richard,  the  Lion  Heart,  riding  in  his  coat  of  mail 
and  swinging  his  ponderous  battle-axe,  and  George  Washing 
ton,  in  the  dignified  costume  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school. 
But  there  are  no  adventitious  aids  to  the  effect  of  the  personal 
appearance  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  nor  did  he  need  any.  He 
was  six  feet  four  inches  high,  a  little  bent  in  the  shoulders, 
with  large  hands  and  feet,  a  frame  of  great  joints  and  bones, 
a  prominent  nose  and  mouth,  a  high  forehead  and  coarse 
dark  hair,  and  was  dressed,  when  President,  in  homely  and 
loosely  fitting  black.  His  furrowed  and  melancholy  face  and 
sad  eyes  were  suggestive  of  a  "man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief,"  yet  were  capable  of  quickest  transition  into  an 
expression  of  infinite  humor.  What  depths  of  feeling  and 
tenderness  lay  under  that  rugged  visage,  what  divine  sym 
pathy  with  his  fellow  men,  and  an  enslaved  or  weak  and 
erring  brother!  And  beneath  that  proverbial  wit  which  so 
often  lighted  it,  there  lay  also  the  fountain  of  tears.  An 
exquisite  pathos  breathed  from  the  chords  of  a  sympathetic, 
softly  attuned  nature,  as  if  you  caught  from  them  the  sensi 
tive  wistful  tones  of  Schumann's  ' ' Traumerei. " 

It  is  an  unfounded  notion  that  the  conditions  of  our  frontier 

318 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  319 

life — alas !  we  no  longer  have  any  frontier — are  to  be  counted 
unfavorable.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  been,  from  the 
days  when  Massachusetts  was  herself  a  frontier,  the  best  soil 
for  characteristic  American  ambition  and  growth.  There  are 
those  who  express  surprise  that  Lincoln  was  the  product  of 
what  they  deem  the  narrow  and  scanty  environment  from 
which  he  sprang.  As  well  wonder  at  the  giant  of  the  forest, 
deep  rooted,  bathing  its  top  in  the  upper  air,  fearless  of 
scorch  of  sun  or  blast  of  tempest,  sprung  from  the  fertile 
soil  and  luxuriant  growth  of  the  virgin  earth,  and  rich  with 
the  fragrance  and  glory  of  Nature's  paradise!  I  can  hardly 
think  of  a  life  more  fortunate.  The  Lincolns  settled  in 
Hingham,  Massachusetts,  a  few  years  after  the  coming  of 
the  Mayflower.  The  family  ranks  with  our  early  Puritan 
nobility  of  worth  and  character.  One  branch  of  it  migrated 
to  Pennsylvania  and  thence  to  Virginia.  More  than  a  hun 
dred  years  ago  Lincoln's  grandfather  went  thence  to  Ken 
tucky,  built  a  log  cabin,  cleared  a  farm,  and  was  killed  by 
Indians.  Lincoln's  father  was  of  the  same  sort — pioneer, 
farmer,  hunter,  uneducated,  but  in  touch  with  the  sturdy 
qualities  that  were  the  mark  of  the  Kentucky  settlers.  His 
mother,  dying  in  his  early  boyhood,  was  a  woman  of  beauty, 
of  character,  and  of  education  enough  to  teach  her  husband 
to  write  his  name.  His  stepmother,  saintly  Christian  soul, 
sheltered  the  orphan  under  her  loving  care,  and,  scanty  as 
was  her  lot,  allured  him  to  brighter  worlds  and  led  the  way. 
Compared  with  the  luxurious  profusion  of  to-day,  it  was 
wretched  and  hopeless  poverty;  but,  compared  with  the 
standard  of  the  then  neighborhood  and  time — the  only  right 
standard — it  was  the  independence  of  men  who  owned  the 
land,  who  strode  masters  of  the  soil,  who  were  barons,  not 
serfs,  who  were  equal  with  their  associates,  and  among  whom 
the  child  Abraham  Lincoln,  eating  his  bread  and  milk  from 
a  wooden  bowl  as  he  sat  on  the  threshold  of  his  father's 
cabin — one  side  of  it  wide  open  to  the  weather — was  no  more 
an  object  of  despair  or  pity  than  the  babe  who,  cradled  among 
the  flags  by  the  river's  brink,  dreamed  of  the  hosts  of  Israel 
to  whom  he  should  reveal  the  Tables  of  the  Law  of  God, 


820  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  whom  he  should  lead  to  the  green  pastures  of  the  Prom 
ised  Land.  It  is  not  because  the  same  or  like  qualities  of 
character  do  not  still  inhere  in  human  nature,  that  America 
— nay,  the  world — will  never  again  see  the  like  of  Lincoln, 
but  because  the  circumstances  of  his  early  and  later  life  can 
never  be  reproduced.  America,  alas!  had  already  grown  old 
— old  with  power,  with  wealth,  with  the  exhausting  ravage 
and  absorption  of  her  territory,  and  with  the  infusions  of 
what  we  used  to  call  the  Old  World.  The  frame-setting  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  youth  is  as  absolutely  gone  as  the  great 
American  desert,  now  a  garden,  or  the  buffalo  and  his  Indian 
chaser,  now  ghosts  of  a  dream. 

Nor  is  it  true  that  Lincoln  had  no  education  in  his  boyhood. 
He,  indeed,  went  little  to  school,  yet  he  learned  to  read, 
write,  and  cipher;  and  what  more  does  any  school-boy  learn 
to-day?  "Reading,"  says  Bacon,  summing  up  education, 
"maketh  a  full  man,  conference  a  ready  man,  and  writing  an 
exact  man."  All  these  had  the  youth,  Abraham  Lincoln. 
With  them  he  stood  at  the  gate  of  all  treasures,  key  in  hand, 
as  much  master  of  the  future  as  a  graduate  of  Yale  or  Har 
vard.  He  knew  the  Bible  thoroughly,  .^Esop's  "Fables," 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  the  "Lives"  of 
Washington  and  Henry  Clay;  Burns,  and  later,  Shakespeare. 
He  not  only  read  them  with  the  eye,  but  made  them  a  part 
of  his  mind.  The  list  is  small,  but  it  is  a  range  of  history 
and  poetry.  Washington  and  Clay  may  well  have  been  the 
spur  of  Lincoln's  ambitious  Americanism;  the  Bible  and 
Burns,  of  his  inspiration  and  sentiment  and  unexcelled  style ; 
JEsop's  "Fables"  and  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  of  his  aptness 
of  illustration. 

The  incidents  of  his  early  life  are  few,  but  suggestive. 
At  nineteen  he  made  a  trip  down  the  Mississippi  River  on 
a  flatboat  to  New  Orleans,  and  there  sold  a  cargo — a  trip 
of  larger  education  than  Thomas  Jefferson  had  ever  taken  at 
the  same  age.  A  year  later  his  father,  who  for  four  years 
had  been  living  in  Indiana,  went  to  Illinois;  and  the  boy, 
driving  the  ox-team  which  bore  all  the  household  goods, 
helping  build  the  home  of  logs,  and  split  the  rails  of  the  farm 


UNIVERSITY    OF    MICHIGAN 


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Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  James  B.  Angell,  President  Emeritus 
of  the  University  of  Michigan 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  321 

fence — those  rails  so  famous  afterwards — was  thus  a  resident 
of  three  States  of  the  Union  before  his  majority,  three  States 
representing  the  very  growth  of  his  magnificent  country. 
Coming  of  age,  he  made  a  second  flatboat  descent  to  New 
Orleans.  It  was  there  he  saw  for  the  first  time  the  chaining, 
whipping,  and  sale  of  negroes,  and  it  may  be  that  the  im 
pression  then  made,  inspired  those  immortal  words  in  his 
Second  Inaugural: 

"Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword, 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  'The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.' " 

Returning  to  Illinois,  he  was  clerk  in  a  village  store,  which 
meant  again  opportunities — by  no  means  suffering — under 
comparison  with  those  of  a  college  graduate  of  to-day  in  a 
lawyer's  or  broker's  office  in  the  city.  It  meant  constant 
discussion  of  political,  religious,  and  social  questions.  It 
meant  a  struggle  for  mastery  in  physical  exercise  and  grocery- 
store  debate.  At  twenty-three,  in  the  Black  Hawk  War, 
Lincoln  was  Captain  of  a  military  company — another  step 
in  large  American  life.  Then  he  "kept  store,"  where  his 
honesty  won  him  the  name  of  "Honest  Abe."  At  twenty- 
four  he  was  Postmaster  of  the  village — in  other  words,  the 
centre  and  conduit  of  its  intelligence.  All  this  time  he  was 
absorbing  every  book  he  could  get,  learning  law  and  mathe 
matics,  and,  when  his  store  became  a  failure,  supported  him 
self  by  surveying.  He  had  already  engaged  in  political  life, 
often  addressed  his  fellow-citizens  with  telling  effect,  was 
defeated  as  a  candidate  for  the  Illinois  House  of  Representa 
tives  when  twenty-three,  and  elected  at  twenty-five. 

Review  this  first  chapter,  and  tell  me  where  can  be  found 
a  better  preparation  for  an  American  career.  To  what  one 
of  those  whom  we  call  the  favored  youths  of  the  land  have 
not  his  splendid  advantages  of  social  position  and  university 
education  sometimes  seemed  an  obstacle  rather  than  a  help 


322  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

in  the  path  that  leads  through  the  popular  hedge  to  the  pop 
ular  service?  Hard  lines!  Lincoln's  is  rather  one  of  the 
illustriously  fortunate  careers  of  young  men.  The  accidents 
of  hard  manual  toil,  scanty  living,  no  money,  splitting  of 
rails,  are  only  the  paint  and  pasteboard  of  the  scene,  the 
tricks  with  which  rhetoric  loves  to  embellish  the  contrasts  of 
a  eulogy.  "A  man  's  a  man  for  a'  that." 

Lincoln  was  reflected  three  times  to  the  Legislature,  serv 
ing  with  Douglas  and  others  who,  like  himself,  became  after 
wards  famous.  He  identified  himself  with  anti-slavery 
measures,  protesting  with  only  one  other  associate,  at  a  time 
when  even  a  protest  was  almost  political  martyrdom,  against 
the  extremities  of  pro-slavery.  Meantime  he  went  into  the 
practice  of  the  law,  where  again  his  opportunity  was  large. 
Each  County  had  its  Court  House,  and  this,  rude  as  it  might 
be,  was  always,  in  the  absence  of  other  attractions — and  there 
were  few  other  attractions — the  centre  of  popular  interest 
and  attendance,  the  arena  for  advocacy  and  trial.  From  one 
to  another  the  lawyers  rode  a  circuit.  Among  them  were 
some  of  the  brightest  men  of  the  time,  afterwards  potent  in 
national  councils,  among  whom  Lincoln's  genius  of  homely 
power  soon  bore  him  to  the  front,  a  favorite  alike  with  clients 
and  the  bar.  With  this  came  still  further  prominence  in  all 
public  range.  He  delivered  lectures  on  politics,  temperance, 
literature,  and  inventions.  He  was  a  favorite  on  the  stump. 
An  ardent  Henry  Clay  Whig,  he  was  often  pitted  against 
Douglas  and  other  Democratic  leaders.  He  was  a  moving 
spirit  in  the  Harrison  campaign  of  1840  and  the  Clay  and 
Polk  campaign  in  1844,  being  on  the  Illinois  Whig  electoral 
ticket  each  time,  the  second  time  at  its  head.  In  1848,  as 
afterwards  just  before  the  War,  he  spoke  in  New  England. 
When,  therefore,  either  as  a  matter  of  reproach  or  apotheosis, 
his  candidacy  for  the  presidency  in  1860  is  referred  to  as 
that  of  an  unknown  Illinois  rail-splitter,  it  is  well  enough  to 
remember  that  some  twenty  years  before  that  time  he  was 
the  foremost  popular  champion  of  anti-slavery  principles  in 
the  North-west. 

In  1847  he  entered  the  Thirtieth  Congress  of  the  United 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  823 

States.  There  he  introduced,  and  vigorously  advocated,  pun 
gent  Eesolutions  concerning  the  Mexican  War,  and  a 
Bill  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia — a  measure 
which  afterwards  became  law  by  his  Presidential  approval. 
For  the  next  decade  he  devoted  himself  mainly  to  the  law, 
in  which  he  earned  a  modest  competence. 

Had  his  life  ended  here,  it  would  have  been  a  fortunate 
and  successful  life,  indeed,  but  we  should  not  be  celebrating 
it  to-day.  But  it  did  not  end  here.  This  was  only  the  ves 
tibule  opening  into  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  where  he  was 
to  be  at  once  the  high  priest  and  the  sacrifice. 

Since  our  national  independence  began,  there  have  been 
three  great  eras :  first,  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  under 
Madison  and  Hamilton;  second,  its  construction  by  interpre 
tation  under  Marshall  and  Webster,  which  gave  the  Federal 
Union  a  larger  range  of  sovereignty  than  its  strict  letter ;  and, 
third,  the  exercise  of  that  sovereignty,  resulting  in  the  en 
tirety  of  the  Republic,  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  equality 
of  citizenship  under  Abraham  Lincoln.  Of  this  last  era  Lin 
coln  was  a  typical  spokesman  and  representative  more  than 
any  other  man.  Other  men  may  have  at  times  more  bril 
liantly  illuminated  the  path.  He,  by  force  of  circumstances 
and  his  own  force,  was  the  path  itself.  Seward  stated,  but 
Lincoln  both  stated  and  cut  the  Gordian  knot  of  the  ' '  irrepres 
sible  conflict." 

The  founders  of  our  constitutional  government  expected 
the  early  extinction  of  slavery.  Side  by  side  Northerner  and 
Southerner,  Jefferson  and  Franklin,  argued  for  its  restriction. 
Their  anticipations  were  not  fulfilled.  The  cotton  interest 
became  identified  with  the  possession  and  extension  of  slave 
labor.  The  slave  power  was  the  nerve  centre  of  the  southern 
half  of  the  United  States  and,  for  a  period,  of  our  whole 
political  system.  It  infibred  Northern  pecuniary  interests  in 
its  mesh,  and  they  became  pro  tanto  sharers  in  the  respon 
sibility  for  it.  For  years  it  dominated  the  national  govern 
ment.  It  added  new  States  to  its  circle.  It  fought  to  keep 
equal  pace  with  the  institutions  of  freedom.  It  repealed 
compromises  that  barred  its  loathsome  efflux  upon  the  fair 


324  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

territorial  lands  on  which  the  sunlight  of  liberty  was  dawn 
ing.  It  recaptured  its  fugitive  slaves  in  Northern  capitals. 
It  threatened  the  Union  when  the  eagle  of  freedom  shrieked. 
And  at  last,  under  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  it  claimed  pro 
tection  and  the  right  of  enslavement  even  in  the  Territories. 
There  was  but  one  step  more,  and  that  was  that  the  slave 
owner  might  marshal  his  slaves  in  the  free  States  themselves 
—aye,  even  under  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill.  The  crisis  had 
come,  indeed.  In  short,  as  Lincoln  put  it  in  those  memorable 
words : 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  govern 
ment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall; 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it  .  .  .  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward 
until  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new, 
North  as  well  as  South." 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Senator  from  Illinois,  one  of  the  most 
forcible  men  in  our  history,  had  taken  the  ground — called 
the  Doctrine  of  Squatter  Sovereignty — that  the  people  of  a 
Territory  should  decide  for  themselves  whether  slavery  should 
exist  there  or  not.  Plausible  as  it  seemed,  it  ignored  the 
slave,  and  Lincoln  exploded  it  with  the  simple  formula  that 
it  amounted  simply  to  this,  "That  if  any  one  man  choose  to 
enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be  allowed  to  object." 
Grant,  as  he  did,  that  slavery  had  a  constitutional  existence 
in  the  slave  States  where  it  was  established,  yet  the  moment 
it  sought  to  enslave  any  human  being  in  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  it  became  there  an  unwarranted  crime 
against  humanity,  and  the  government  was  bound  in  con 
science  and  in  duty  to  resist  it  by  every  means  in  its  power, 
and  to  keep  the  national  Territories  for  the  homes  and  shrines 
of  freedom.  From  1854  to  1861  the  debate  between  these 
great  gladiators  raged.  The  gory  battlefields  of  history  are 
not  so  inspiring  as  this  battle  between  conscience  and  crime. 
Neither  of  the  men  was  fifty  years  old,  both  sons  of  the  farm, 
makers  of  their  own  fortunes,  leaders  of  the  people,  speaking 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  325 

to  millions  of  their  countrymen,  and  standing,  one  of  North 
ern  birth  for  the  right  of  extension  of  slavery,  the  other, 
Southern  born,  for  its  restriction  and  for  a  Union  which 
should  cease  to  be  divided  and  thereby  ultimately  become  all 
free. 

It  was  not  a  matter  of  chance  that  Lincoln  was  the  cham 
pion  of  freedom.  That  he  was  so,  proves  the  steady  prepara 
tion  and  the  commanding  talents  which  fitted  him  for  the 
place.  By  the  Illinois  Legislature  of  1855  he  had  come  very 
near  to  be  chosen  United  States  Senator;  and  at  the  Repub 
lican  National  Convention  in  1856  he  received  one  hundred 
and  ten  votes  as  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency  on  the 
part  of  the  Republican  party,  of  which  meantime  he  had 
become  one  of  the  founders,  and  of  which  he  was  thenceforth 
in  the  North-west  the  undoubted  leader.  At  its  Conventions 
in  Illinois  he  was  its  spokesman,  and  in  1858  contested  with 
Douglas  before  the  people  the  issue  of  the  next  United  States 
senatorship.  It  was  in  this  contest  that  Lincoln  challenged 
Douglas  to  a  series  of  six  joint  debates,  which  are  the  most 
remarkable  and  influential  of  their  kind  in  American — if  not 
in  all  forensic — history.  Nor  was  it  by  any  means  a  one 
sided  contest,  either  in  the  matter  of  the  debate  or  of  the  men 
who  debated  it.  Here,  again,  do  not  count  Lincoln  less  than 
he  was.  He  was  now  a  master  thoroughly  equipped  for  the 
discussion.  It  is  doubtful  whether  his  superior  for  that  work 
could  have  been  found  in  the  whole  country.  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  Ohio,  and  other  States  were  rich  in  material; 
but  which  of  their  orators — what  Sumner  or  Seward  or 
Chase — could  have  brought  to  that  arena  of  the  plain  people 
the  lance  or  mail  that  would  have  made  or  met  the  charge 
like  his? 

It  is  a  time  in  Lincoln's  life  to  be  dwelt  upon,  because 
then  was  the  formative  process  of  public  sentiment,  of  which 
his  administration  later  was  the  expression.  In  this  great 
debate  he  planted  his  feet  on  the  rock  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  which  had  always  been  and  always  was  his 
political  philosophy  and  faith.  Again  and  again,  at  this  time 
and  forever  after,  he  returned  to  it.  Its  imperishable  inspira- 


326  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tion  to  him  was  union  and  liberty — first,  the  entirety  of  an 
indissoluble  Union,  which  must  be  either  all  slave  or  all  free, 
but  which,  second,  must  be  all  free  because  "all  men  are 
created  equal.7' 

Ah,  those  old  anti-slavery  days  which,  so  swift  is  time,  not 
many  of  you  here  recall !  Not  even  the  lustre  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  period  bursting  into  national  independence  shone  with 
such  beauty  of  holiness,  such  moral  effulgence,  such  ardor 
for  the  enfranchisement,  not  of  a  nation,  conscious  only  of 
general  mild  subjection  to  laws  in  the  making  of  which  it 
did  not  have  direct  representation,  but  of  a  proletariat  of 
poor,  despised,  enslaved  but  fellow  human  beings.  It  is  this 
which  makes  the  anti-slavery  crusade  the  era  of  our  New 
England  chivalry.  Then  its  true  knight  couched  his  lance 
and  its  minstrel  song.  It  nerved  the  iron  will  of  Garrison, 
who  would  not  equivocate  and  who  would  be  heard.  It  rang 
from  the  lips  of  Phillips,  that  Puritan  Apollo,  more  beautiful 
than  the  son  of  Latona  and  higher-bred,  whose  tongue  was 
his  lute  and  whose  swift  shaft  was  winged  with  the  immortal 
fire  of  liberty.  It  pointed  the  rhyme  of  Lowell,  and  trans 
formed  a  Boston  Brahmin  into  a  Down  East  "Bird  of  Free 
dom/'  It  made  Whittier  the  expression  in  verse  of  New 
England's  intense  and  passionate  impulse  for  freedom  and 
for  breaking  all  chains  that  bind  the  limb  or  mind  of  any 
brother  man, — an  unplumed  knight  in  Quaker  garb.  It 
throbbed  with  magnetic  fervor  in  the  heart  of  Andrew.  It 
inspired  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Stowe.  Electrified  by  her  genius, 
the  great  popular  heart  thrilled  with  veneration  and  sym 
pathy  for  the  meek  and  lowly  Christian  in  bondage,  Uncle 
Tom.  Its  heroisms  fired  the  student,  and  Harvard  and  her 
sisters  were  again  the  mothers  of  heroes.  Its  passion  cul 
minated  in  the  immortal  hymn  of  Mrs.  Howe,  and  cried 
aloud — 

"Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord." 

But  why  name  these  and  not  also  the  dwellers  in  unnum 
bered  homes  of  plain  living  and  high  thinking  all  over  the 
land,  under  the  shadow  of  Plymouth  Rock,  and  along  the  sea, 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  827 

and  among  the  farms,  as  well  as  in  the  abodes  of  culture 
and  wealth,  peers  of  the  exaltation  of  their  leaders,  kindled 
with  equal  enthusiasm  for  human  rights,  fired  with  the  re 
former's  zeal,  and  later  giving  themselves  and  their  sons  a 
sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  their  faith  on  the  field  of  battle 
and  of  blood?  As  Christ  died  to  make  men  holy,  so  they 
died  to  make  men  free.  All  honor  to  them  and  to  you,  their 
veteran  surviving  comrades  here  to-night ! 

It  was,  indeed,  the  era  of  the  tumultuous  upheaval  of  the 
moral  sense.  It  was  the  burst  of  the  thundercloud,  and  its 
lightnings  fell  and  its  rains  descended  and  its  floods  poured, 
and  the  house  built  upon  the  sand  of  inhumanity  fell,  and 
great  was  the  fall  thereof.  Of  course  there  were  extrava 
gances  and  extremists.  Bitterness  and  passion  and  sectional 
inflammations  raged,  but  above  them,  as  we  look  back,  like 
Neptune  rising  above  the  tumult  of  the  waves,  the  figure  of 
Lincoln  dominates  the  scene.  His  voice  is  calm,  but  reaches 
all  abroad.  He  gathers  the  bolts  of  the  storm  into  his  hand. 
He  gives  utterance  to  the  great  underlying  public  sentiment 
of  the  time.  He  becomes  the  embodiment  of  the  common 
sense.  Others  may  have  more  passionately  stirred  and  in 
flamed  the  popular  heart.  He  stirred,  but  also  guided  it. 
Patiently,  but  surely,  he  led  the  way,  and  at  the  last  his  was 
the  hand  that  struck  the  fetters  from  the  slave.  Well  is  it 
that  Boston,  through  the  munificence  of  one  of  her  citizens, 
has  in  one  of  her  busy  public  squares  set  up  his  statue  beside 
which  a  kneeling  slave,  just  set  free,  forgets  the  broken  fet 
ters  at  his  feet  as  with  adoring  eyes  he  looks  up  into  the 
face,  and  bends  beneath  the  benediction  of  the  hand,  of  his 
Christ  and  Saviour. 

In  the  contest  with  Douglas,  Lincoln  won  the  popular  vote ; 
Douglas,  the  Legislature  and  the  senatorship.  But  it  meant 
for  Lincoln  the  presidency.  His  fame  was  now  national. 
In  1859  he  spoke  in  Kansas,  the  daughter  of  the  anti-slavery 
crusade,  a  virgin  and  beautiful  Andromeda,  whose  rescue 
was  the  death-knell  of  the  monster  of  slavery,  to  whom  she 
had  been  exposed.  In  the  same  year  he  spoke  memorably  in 
Ohio.  In  February,  1860,  he  made  his  famous  speech  at  the 


328  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Cooper  Institute  in  New  York  City,  and  thereby  won  the 
presidency  of  the  East.  It  is  a  picture  worth  recalling.  The 
boy  of  the  farm,  the  splitter  of  rails,  the  country  store 
keeper  and  postmaster,  the  peripatetic  surveyor  too  poor  to 
own  his  instruments,  the  circuit  lawyer,  the  stump  speaker 
and  lank  humorist  of  the  prairie  who  had  recently  won  his 
spurs  in  the  open-air  debate  with  Douglas,  stood  before  the 
culture  and  enterprise  of  the  metropolis  of  the  New  World. 
His  presiding  officer  was  Bryant,  poet  and  patriot — our  Bry 
ant.  His  platform  was  arrayed  with  the  most  eminent  mer 
chants,  scholars,  lawyers,  clergymen,  business  men,  of  the  city. 
His  audience  was  the  critical  intelligence  of  America.  There 
was  no  doubt  a  kindly,  half-patronizing  curiosity  to  hear  an 
uncouth  champion  of  the  West,  who  had  crossed  swords  with 
the  "Little  Giant. "  If  so,  it  quickly  turned  to  the  discrim 
inating  admiration  which  an  Athenian  audience  might  have 
felt  and  expressed  as  the  orator  rose  to  his  theme,  and  in 
the  pure  and  simple  eloquence  of  candor,  with  an  entire 
mastery  of  his  subject,  delivered  an  address  which  planted  the 
Republican  sentiment  of  the  nation  on  an  impregnable  foun 
dation.  Lincoln's  speeches  became  thenceforth  the  ready-at- 
hand  material  of  every  New  England  fireside. 

Under  these  circumstances  his  nomination  as  the  Repub 
lican  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1860  was  the  natural 
evolution  of  events.  It  was  the  selection  of  the  one  man  who, 
in  the  popular  mind,  by  and  large,  represented  the  national 
protest  against  the  aggression  of  the  slave  power  in  the 
South  and  of  the  subserviency  to  it  in  the  North,  who  could 
rally  alike  in  East  and  West  the  strongest  popular  vote,  and 
who  could  best  hold  together  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the 
free  States  themselves  when  the  shock  of  war  should  come, 
not  only  rending  apart  North  and  South,  but  endangering 
even  in  the  North  the  harmony  of  its  common  allegiance. 
At  the  Convention  held  in  Chicago,  May,  1860,  Lincoln  was 
nominated  on  the  third  ballot,  and  in  the  following  November 
elected  to  the  presidency. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  Union  was  there  a  more  critical 
and  gloomy  time  than  the  interval  between  Lincoln's  elec- 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  329 

tion  in  November  and  his  inauguration  in  March.     The  at 
tempted  dissolution   of  the  Republic  had  come.     Webster's 
prophetic   nightmare   was  now   a  living  horror.     The  helm 
of  state  wavered  in  the  palsied  hand  of  Buchanan.     State 
after  State  seceded.    Faithless   and   dishonest   Cabinet  offi 
cers  were  honeycombing  the  military  and  naval  strength  of 
the    federal    government.     Treason    plotted    in    the    capital. 
The  very  life  of  the  President-elect  was  in  danger  when  he 
left  his  home  and  made  his  way  to  Washington.     His  inaug 
ural  marked  the  new  era  of  his  life — a  new  departure,  some 
times  disappointing  his  friends,  but  approved  by  the  result 
and  signalizing  the  greatness  of  the  man — a  greatness  suf 
ficient  to  adapt  itself  to  new  exigencies,  to  comprehend  the 
whole  vast  situation,  and  to  direct  the  thunderbolts  of  the 
storm.     Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  the  charging  and  resist 
less  advocate  and  prophet.     He  was  now  the  cautious  and 
deliberate    administrator.     He    had    approved    himself    the 
genius  of  the  spoken  conscience.     He  was  now  to  approve  him 
self  the  wise  master  of  situations,  responsibilities,  and  expedi 
encies.     He  had  been  among  the  foremost  to  court  the  peril 
of  driving  the  Ship  of  State  into  the  angry  straits.     Now 
at  the  helm,  he  was  the  careful  pilot — shy  of  Scylla,  on  the 
one  hand,   and  of  Charybdis,   on  the   other.     He  who  had 
seemed  the  boldest  was  now  often  censured  as  timid  and  as 
withholding  his  hand  from  the  plough.     He  had  been  the  out 
spoken  antagonist  of  the  slave  power.     Now  he  seemed  fearful 
lest  he  should  invade  its  slightest  constitutional  right.     For 
forever  in  his  mind  was  the  purpose  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence — the  Union  of  the  States,  with  liberty  its  corner 
stone.     Of  this  Union  he  remembered  that  he  had  been  elected 
President,  and  that  on  him — on  him,  perhaps,   alone — was 
the  awful  responsibility  of  its  preservation  unbroken.     To 
this  duty  he  seemed  to  feel  himself  bound  to  sacrifice  all  else. 
The  crisis  that  faced  him  was  the  crisis  of  that  Union  on  the 
point  of  disruption,  and  to  avert  that  peril  he  bent  everything. 
Eleven  States  had  seceded.     If  the  border  slave  States,  which 
with  good  reason  he  believed  to  hold  the  balance  of  power, 
should  secede  also,  the  breach  would  be  irreparable  and  the 


330  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Union  at  an  end.  Because  of  this,  caution  and  prudence, 
especially  in  dealing  with  the  slave  problem,  were  the  charac 
teristics  of  his  early  administration,  sometimes  exasperating 
his  warmest  supporters  and  the  enthusiastic  patriots  of  the 
North,  but  held  to  with  serene  and  unflinching  fidelity  because 
they  were  the  result  of  profound  conviction. 

In  the  light  of  succeeding  events,  especially  of  the  early 
defeat  at  Bull  Kun,  history  justifies  him.  Kentucky,  Mis 
souri,  Maryland,  were  never  lost,  nor  Tennessee  or  Virginia, 
except  in  part.  The  conservative  element  in  the  North,  on 
which  the  Southern  leaders  counted  confidently,  was  kept  in 
line  till  that  line  was  beyond  breaking.  I  doubt  if  the  world 
has  a  nobler  or  a  more  pathetic  picture  than  that  of  President 
Lincoln  in  those  days — that  magnanimous  soul,  that  spirit 
without  guile  or  malice,  that  prophet  among  the  anti-slavery 
crusaders,  whose  heart  was  still  as  loyal  to  their  cause  and 
as  tender  of  the  shackled  slave  as  was  that  of  Garrison  or 
Sumner  or  Phillips,  but  consecrated  to  his  great  responsibili 
ties  as  God  gave  him  to  see  them,  superior  to  the  assault  of 
enemies  or  the  impatience  of  friends,  single-eyed  to  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Union,  because  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
involved  every  hope  he  cherished  for  his  country,  its  destruc 
tion  every  calamity  which  for  her  he  feared.  I  love  to  think 
that  in  the  great  providence  of  compensation  God  meantime 
gave  him  to  know  that  he  was  right,  as  at  the  end  he  knew  it 
when  he  walked  the  streets  of  Kichmond  one  April  day,  Pre 
server  of  the  Union,  Emancipator  of  the  Slave. 

Disasters  on  the  field  came  in  those  early  months,  thick  and 
fast,  like  successive  overwhelming  waves.  The  unsuccess  in 
command  of  many  a  soldier  at  the  head  of  the  army,  inade 
quate  to  the  task,  seemed  to  waste  years  of  agonizing  suspense 
in  the  swamps  of  Virginia.  But,  as  the  glacier  moves,  so 
slowly  the  resistless  forces  of  freedom  moved  on.  From  the 
West  came  the  victories  of  Grant,  and  then  Grant  himself, 
who  solved  the  riddle  of  war  by  striking  the  enemies'  forces, 
not  by  withdrawing  his  own,  but  by  moving  on  his  adversa 
ries'  works  immediately,  by  fighting  his  campaigns  through, 
and  by  ' '  fighting  them  out  on  that  line  if  it  took  all  Summer. ' ' 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  331 

Complications  with  foreign  nations  had  been  wisely  avoided. 
Seward,  whose  services  as  Secretary  of  State  should  never  be 
forgotten,  yet  had  found  in  Lincoln  a  more  discreet  hand  than 
his  own  in  the  Trent  negotiations,  in  which  the  United  States, 
though  clearly  justified  by  British  precedent  and  doctrine, 
yielded  its  contention  hardly  more  to  a  prudent  policy  of  con 
ciliation  than  to  its  own  traditional  and  more  liberal  theory 
of  the  rights  of  neutrals  on  the  high  seas.  The  patriotic 
sentiment  of  the  North  had  already  crystallized  under  Lin 
coln's  wise  prudence  into  cooperation.  The  border  States 
were  secured.  Slavery,  surely  crumbling  under  his  policy — 
more  surely,  it  may  now  in  his  vindication  be  said,  than  if 
the  first  blow  had  been  straight  betwixt  the  eyes  of  the  mon 
ster — was  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Colored 
troops  were  enlisted,  and  the  freedmen,  wearing  the  uniform 
of  the  country  of  which  they  were  henceforth  to  be  the  equal 
citizens  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  were  enrolling 
their  names  at  Wagner  and  Olustee  on  the  topmost  scroll  of 
the  heroic  dead.  Meantime  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the 
loyal  States,  under  a  system  of  compensation,  had  been 
considerately  urged  upon  their  owners  by  the  President. 
Indeed,  every  step  was  taken  to  conciliate  whatever  interest 
was  at  stake.  And  when,  in  September,  1862,  he  announced 
his  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  on  the  first  day  of  Janu 
ary,  1863,  gave  it  life,  the  country  was  ripe  for  its  reception 
and  enforcement  as  the  timely  and  consummate  fruit  of  God's 
providence  and  of  the  administration's  faithful  execution  of 
its  evolving  duty.  Then  came  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg 
and  Appomattox;  and  then  that  sight — oh,  so  pathetic,  so 
full  of  happy  tears — the  Illinois  rail-splitter  leading  his  little 
son  by  the  hand,  God 's  benediction  on  his  homely  face,  angels 
of  forgiveness  and  mercy  hovering  around  him  as  he  walked 
the  streets  of  Richmond,  capital  again  of  the  old  State  of 
Virginia,  capital  of  the  Confederacy  no  longer,  a  poor  eman 
cipated  slave  woman  kneeling  at  his  feet  and  showering  on 
them  all  she  had,  her  kisses  and  her  tears.  The  Union  was 
preserved.  Freedom  was  the  equal  right  of  all  its  children, 
white  or  black.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  vindi- 


332  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

cated.  The  house  had  not  fallen ;  it  had  ceased  to  be  divided ; 
and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  forever  enshrined  in  the  heart  of 
the  Republic. 

Must  it  not  be  said  that  Abraham  Lincoln's  war  policy,  his 
policy  in  dealing  with  slavery  as  an  element  in  the  Union 
affecting  its  preservation,  was  right  1  When,  in  time  of  crisis, 
God  charges  a  wise  man  with  a  special  responsibility  above  his 
fellows,  does  he  not  sometimes  give  him  special  wisdom  above 
them  also? 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation  is  Abraham  Lincoln 's  great 
fame  scroll.  To  have  at  one  stroke  of  the  pen  made  four 
million  slaves  free — to  have  at  one  cut  ripped  the  cancer  from 
the  Republic — there  can  be  no  greater  glory  in  human  history. 
Supplemented  by  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth 
Amendments  to  the  Federal  Constitution,  which,  as  Mr.  Mead 
has  said,  were  "the  reduction  to  law  of  Lincoln's  gospel  and 
Lincoln's  life,"  it  is  his  patent  to  immortality. 

The  colored  race  have  every  reason  to  cherish,  as  they  do, 
the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  All  that  man  could  do  for 
them  he  did.  They  had  unnumbered  advocates,  intense,  de 
voted,  true,  but  none  who,  in  addition  to  all  else,  was  so  wise 
as  he.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  he  lay  down 
his  life  for  his  friends.  But  Lincoln  not  only  laid  down  his 
life  for  them,  but  had  already  given  for  years  the  very  ful 
ness  of  it  to  their  uplift.  He  struck  the  shackles  from  their 
limbs;  he  struck  the  more  chafing  shackles  from  their  souls. 
He  gave  them  manhood.  He  made  them  soldiers  of  the  Re 
public.  He  pointed  them  to  the  paths  of  education  and 
material  thrift,  and  through  these  to  the  fruitions  of  equal 
citizenship.  He  was  no  fanatic.  The  Federal  Constitution 
was  to  him  no  "league  with  hell,"  but  the  expedient  instru 
ment  of  a  blessed  union  which  with  patience  and  wise  pres 
sure  could  yet  be  moulded  into  provision  for  the  equal  rights 
under  it  of  all  men,  whatever  their  race  or  color.  He  did  not 
shut  his  eyes  to  racial  differences  and  to  the  social  discrimina 
tions  which  have  sprung  therefrom.  But  from  the  first  he 
held  to  the  faith  that  the  negro  was  entitled  to  all  the  natural 
rights  enumerated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  333 

that,  "in  the  right  to  put  into  his  mouth  the  bread  that  his 
own  hands  have  earned,  he  is  the  equal  of  every  other  man, 
white  or  black." 

Beyond  the  first  step  of  freedom  he  was  too  wise  to  press 
the  negro  forward  too  rapidly,  either  for  his  own  good  or 
for  the  good  of  the  Eepublic.  With  what  seems  now  the 
pith  of  common  sense,  he  would  give  him,  as  he  would  have 
given  men  of  any  other  race  or  color,  training  to  fit  him 
for  the  functions  of  citizenship.  He  would  have  given  him 
education,  whether  of  the  school  of  military  service,  or  of  the 
primer  or  copy  book  or  of  industrial  attainment,  before  con 
ferring  upon  him  suffrage  during  the  War,  thus  making  it 
the  expression  of  an  intelligent  and  responsible  citizenship 
rather  than  a  premature  agency  of  social  disorder  and  politi 
cal  corruption.  He  would  have  deprecated  any  tidal  wave 
of  ignorance  and  irresponsibility  deluging  the  Southern 
States  and  retarding  their  return,  not  only  to  national  pros 
perity,  but  to  the  sentiment  of  national  union.  Had  he  lived, 
would  he  not,  with  his  rare  tact,  have  saved  us  the  blunder 
of  unfitted,  and  swamping,  immediate  universal  suffrage  too 
early  conferred?  Would  he  not  rather  have  laid  the  founda 
tions  of  universal  suffrage  in  such  agencies  as  later  have  found 
expression  in  work  like  that  of  Booker  Washington?  Later, 
and  in  due  season,  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amend 
ments  to  the  Federal  Constitution  would  have  followed  the 
Thirteenth,  which  was  adopted  during  Lincoln's  administra 
tion,  and  the  three  would  have  been  the  consummation  of  his 
policy.  He  would  have  combined,  as  he  always  did,  the  natu 
ral  rights,  whether  of  the  negro  or  any  other  citizen,  with 
expedient  development  in  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  them. 
Had  his  policy  prevailed,  freedom  would  have  meant  to  the 
enfranchised  slave,  not  political  office  or  its  flamboyant  badges 
and  titles,  but  the  bountiful  fruit  of  the  right  to  eat  the  bread 
which  his  own  hand  earns,  to  add  to  his  intellectual  and 
material  acquisitions,  to  prove  by  his  thrift,  by  his  attain 
ments  in  scholarship,  and  by  his  accumulation  of  property, 
as  he  is  now  so  abundantly  proving,  his  capacity  for  full 
participation  in  affairs.  The  colored  citizen  would  have  been 


334  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

saved  the  humiliation  of  his  early  ejectment  from  precipitant 
political  occupation,  and  would  sooner  have  secured,  as  he 
is  now  securing,  that  call  to  political  service  which  comes,  and 
will  hereafter  more  and  more  come,  to  whatever  man  stands 
out  with  evident  fitness  for  it.  This  is  the  true  future  and 
true  aim  for  the  colored  race.  And  this  is  what  Lincoln, 
their  best  friend  and  the  best  friend  of  their  former  masters, 
would  have  had  them  have.  Would  he  could  have  lived  to 
note  their  schools  and  colleges,  their  wide-spread  industries, 
their  men  eminent  in  institutional,  professional,  and  social 
life,  their  teachers  and  poets  and  novelists,  their  successful 
merchants,  farmers,  and  manufacturers!  Had  he  lived,  is 
it  too  much  to  say  that  this  rising  tide  in  their  affairs  would 
have  sooner  set  in?  And,  were  he  living,  with  what  faith 
would  they  still  turn  to  him  in  every  contingency,  sure  of 
justice  at  his  hands!  His  legacy  to  us  is  the  duty  of  the 
same  justice  at  our  hands.  Our  tributes  to  him  are  but  lip 
service,  if  we  do  not  see  to  it  that  no  tinge  of  black  or  red 
in  any  man's  skin  shall  be  permitted  to  discriminate  him  in 
his  rights  under  the  law  as  a  citizen  from  any  other  citizen 
of  the  Union  or  of  any  State  in  it. 

Two  adjectives  that  seem  especially  to  describe  Lincoln's 
relation  to  the  great  work  to  which  he  was  called  are  "apt" 
and  "adequate."  No  man  ever  made  less  pretence.  His 
integrity  and  truth  were  structural,  born  in  him.  His  mag 
nanimity,  his  superiority  to  personal  feeling,  are  almost 
unparalleled  in  public  life.  It  animated  every  impulse.  It 
breathed  in  his  repeated  invitations  to  the  Confederate  gov 
ernment  to  personal  interviews  on  terms  of  peace;  in  his 
dealings  with  his  civil  and  military  subordinates  when  un 
successful  or  at  fault;  in  his  patience  with  McClellan,  his 
consideration  for  Burnside,  his  wise  counsel  to  Hooker, 
his  self-effacing  disinterestedness  towards  Chase.  It  made 
him  quicker  to  take  than  to  lay  blame.  And  when,  at  his 
death,  his  record  was  recalled,  that  magnanimity  the  whole 
world  recognized.  He  had  conquered  its  admiration.  He 
had  shamed  its  prejudice  and  ridicule;  and  the  "scurrile 
jester,"  penitent  and  atoning,  was  among  the  first — to  his 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  335 

honor  be  it  remembered — to  lay  his  garland  on  the  martyr's 
grave.  His  gentleness  and  tenderness  of  heart  allied  him  to 
the  very  springs  of  sympathy  and  opened  his  ear  to  the 
humblest  that  sought  it.  A  quaint  humor  flavored  his  in 
formal  speech  with  a  homely  relish,  and  was,  as  he  used  to 
suggest,  his  safety-valve  during  those  exacting  years  of  the 
War.  It  had  been  exaggerated,  no  doubt,  in  the  report  of 
it,  yet  it  always  kept  him  in  popular  rapport.  More  than 
this,  it  was  a  keen  instrument,  purposely  used  as  such,  to 
carve  his  way  to  essential  results,  either  in  debate  or  in 
administration.  It  was  the  humor,  not  of  a  clown,  but  of  a 
diplomatist.  In  this  respect,  as  also  in  respect  to  a  seeming 
waste  of  his  attention  in  arranging  petty  details  of  official 
patronage  with  Congressmen  and  office-seekers  who  hounded 
him — a  thing  which  so  unfavorably  impressed  some  men  of 
distinction  who  sought  him  on  the  higher  themes  of  State — • 
I  recall  a  remark  of  Mr.  Root.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  all 
this  was  largely  the  shrewd  method,  where  no  other  would 
serve,  of  that  conciliation  of  interests  and  that  winning  of 
congressional  help,  by  means  of  which  measures  vitally  neces 
sary  to  the  great  work  in  hand  were  secured,  and  which  with 
less  tact  and  sacrifice  would  have  been  lost. 

And  with  the  country  at  large,  with  what  consummate 
divination  and  wisdom  Lincoln  now  led,  now  met,  now  fol 
lowed,  but  always  grasped  and  held — making  it  the  mighty 
backing  of  his  administration — the  public  sentiment !  Thank 
God  it  never  lost  faith  in  him ! 

The  literature  of  Lincoln  in  his  political  and  State  papers 
is  of  the  highest  order,  unsurpassed,  if  equalled.  In  temper 
and  tone,  in  convincing  force,  with  at  the  same  time  regard 
ful  consideration  of  others'  views;  restrained  in  expression, 
never  extravagant  or  offensive,  and  thus  making  his  personal 
argument  more  effective,  they  are  models  at  once  of  strength 
and  tact  and  taste  in  the  discussion  of  questions  of  State. 
The  style  of  this  graduate  from  a  log  cabin  is  consummate. 
His  phrasing,  his  neat  antithesis,  his  clearness  of  statement, 
his  compelling  argument,  his  choice  of  apt  words,  his  telling 
metaphors  and  illustrations,  and  the  exquisite  framework  of 


3S6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

his  prepared  speech — always  simple,  yet  always  complete — 
gave  to  his  masterpieces  the  rare  excellence  of  the  King  James 
version  of  Holy  Writ.  David  sang  not  with  a  purer  cadence 
or  a  more  exalted  vision. 

But  far  above  the  style,  is  the  spirit  of  that  literature, 
the  heart  that  inspired  it  beating  for  all  his  fellow  men,  even 
those  who  reviled  him  and  said  all  manner  of  evil  against 
him.  His  earlier  public  speeches,  before  his  higher  promi 
nence,  had  often  the  broader  flavor  of  the  stump,  and  were 
attuned  to  attract  and  convince  the  popular  environment  to 
which  he  appealed.  But  in  the  great  debate  with  Douglas, 
and  in  the  speeches  of  that  time,  he  began  to  strike  higher 
chords.  And,  beginning  with  his  Cooper  Institute  Address 
and  all  through  his  State  papers  and  formal  utterances,  he 
rose  to  the  height  of  the  benediction  and  charity  of  the  divine 
Master.  The  State  papers  of  no  other  publicist  in  tone  and 
spirit  are  so  responsive  to  the  pattern  of  Jesus.  His  appeals 
were  forever  to  justice  and  fairness.  He  never  lost  sight  of 
the  other  side.  He  gave  full  credit  to  its  argument,  its 
claims,  its  rights,  its  temptations,  and  its  extenuations, 
whether  he  contended  with  it  in  debate  or  fought  it  in  battle 
— yea,  even  in  the  very  stress  of  the  angry  fire  of  treason  and 
war.  You  cannot  read,  then,  that  there  sounds  not  in  your 
ear  the  sweet  accompaniment  of  a  heavenly  voice  saying, 
"As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them 
likewise,"  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged,"  "Love  your 
enemies,  do  good  to  them  which  hate  you,"  "Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

And  yet  this  man  was  untutored  in  schools  of  divinity — 
save  in  the  great  school  of  Nature's  open  providence,  and  the 
Bible  of  the  lowly  fireside — caring  for  no  theology  save  that 
of  love  to  God  and  to  his  fellow  men.  I  love  to  think  that  in 
one  of  his  successors  the  force  of  example  in  this  respect  is 
manifest — in  the  State  papers,  as  also  in  the  spirit,  of  the 
lamented  McKinley,  who,  as  those  who  were  in  close  touch 
with  him  were  always  conscious,  made  himself  a  disciple  of 
Lincoln  and  patterned  him — like  him,  alas!  even  in  his 
martyr's  death.  May  the  same  high  and  inspiring  ideal  be 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  337 

always  the  guiding  star  of  those  who  rule  this  our  beloved 
land! 

In  that  terrible  struggle  which  involved  the  outrooting  of 
human  slavery,  Lincoln  never  forgot  that  neither  side  was 
innocent  of  its  existence  among  us,  or  that  the  people  of  the 
South  believed  in  their  cause,  and  in  their  construction  of 
their  rights  under  the  Federal  Constitution.  To  him  they 
were  the  erring,  not  the  malevolent,  brother ;  and  the  moment 
they  laid  down  their  arms  their  sins  were  forgiven  them. 
In  the  Cooper  Institute  Speech,  in  the  two  nobly  generous 
Inaugurals — and,  indeed,  always — what  charity,  what  reach 
ing  out  of  the  welcoming  hand,  what  appeal  to  every  senti 
ment  of  brotherhood,  what  pleading  for  righteousness  and 
peace  and  good  will!  To-day  the  South  knows  and  feels  all 
this.  The  mists  and  passions  of  half  a  century  ago  have 
faded  away,  and  the  memory  of  Lincoln  shines  like  a  star  in 
the  serene  heaven  of  our  Union  in  which  it  is  our  brightest 
link. 

And  shall  not  we  of  this  new  century  rise  as  a  nation  to 
the  ideal  of  that  lofty  time  of  which  he  became  the  incarna 
tion — the  ideal  of  a  Republic  not  lost  in  material  interests, 
great  and  important  as  they  are;  not  blinded  with  the  glare 
of  prosperity,  wide  and  comforting  as  it  is;  not  bent  on  be 
coming  a  defiant  world  power,  large  as  are  the  responsibilities 
that  come  with  it;  but  devoted  to  righteousness  as  a  people, 
to  the  eradication  of  every  root  of  misery  and  wretchedness 
and  injustice  in  our  soil,  and  to  the  elevation  of  the  humblest 
and  poorest  and  weakest?  Our  apotheosis  of  Lincoln,  even 
if  exaggerated,  should  lift  us  out  of  the  murk  and  stress  and 
tumult  of  our  time,  and  bring  the  jarring  elements  of  our 
social  and  industrial  life  to  a  better  understanding. 

Had  he  lived,  who  does  not  feel  that  the  reunion  of  the 
national  heart  would  have  far  more  speedily  followed  the 
reunion  of  political  bands!  Reconstruction  was  a  most  diffi 
cult  problem,  and  the  utmost  respect  is  to  be  had  for  the  con 
victions  of  the  great  and  patriotic  men  who  differed  as  to 
its  solution.  But  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  ultimate  verdict  of 
disinterested  consideration,  free  from  the  intense  feeling 


S38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  his  time,  will  be  with  Lincoln.  To  him  it  was  a  practical, 
not  a  theoretical,  or  sentimental  question.  He  did  not  regard 
it  as  worth  while  to  determine  nicely  whether  by  their  rebel 
lion  the  Confederate  States  had  lost  their  statehood  in  the 
Union,  or  had  remained  in  it.  If  the  former,  it  is  difficult  to 
see  why  they  had  not  accomplished  all  that  they  attempted. 
We  fought  to  keep  them  in,  and,  if  the  victory  was  ours, 
as  it  was,  they  were  logically,  and  in  fact,  still  States  in  the 
Union,  though  their  relations  with  the  national  government 
were  of  course  so  disturbed  and  chaotic  that  legislation  was 
necessary  to  readjust  those  relations  and  to  safeguard  all  the 
interests  involved.  Such  was,  undoubtedly,  Lincoln's  view; 
but  he  was  looking  to  conditions,  not  to  theories.  Beginning 
with  Louisiana,  as  soon  as  a  reasonably  large  portion  of  its 
citizens  organized  a  State  government,  adopted  a  free  Con 
stitution,  confirmed  the  Thirteenth  National  Constitutional 
Amendment  abolishing  slavery,  provided  public  schools  for 
white  and  black,  and  empowered  their  Legislature  to  give  the 
suffrage  to  the  colored  man,  he  would  have  restored  that  State 
to  its  harmony  in  the  Union.  The  example  would  have  been 
followed  in  other  States.  No  doubt  the  process  of  such  recon 
struction  would  have  been  accompanied  by  injustices  to  the 
freedmen;  but  the  triumphant  loyal  majorities  of  the  North 
would  have  safeguarded  them,  so  that,  whatever  their  hard 
ships  in  the  transition,  these  would  probably  have  been  small 
compared  with  those  that  came  under  the  course  adopted  after 
Lincoln's  death.  Ten  years  of  a  reconstruction  rule  that  is 
a  melancholy  and  disastrous  period  in  our  history  would  have 
been  mitigated.  The  enmities  of  the  War  would  have  been 
quieted  rather  than  accentuated.  The  increased  prejudice 
against  the  negro,  arising  from  the  natural  bitterness  of  his 
former  masters  at  being  made  his  political  subject,  and  rank 
ling  even  to  this  day,  would  have  been  checked.  Had  Lin 
coln  lived — with  his  hold  on  popular  sentiments,  with  the 
prestige  of  his  triumph  over  disunion,  with  his  sagacity  and 
persuasiveness,  with  his  knowledge  of  the  South,  and  its  re 
sponding  appreciation  of  his  charity  towards  it — it  is  not  too 
much  to  believe  that  he  would  have  made  his  policy  the 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  339 

country's  policy  of  reconstruction.  Where  he  could  not  have 
wholly  carried  his  point,  he  would  have  modified  it  without 
wholly  sacrificing  his  views  to  those  of  the  leaders  of  the 
more  radical  wing.  But  the  result  would  have  been,  in  the 
main,  the  carrying  out  of  his.  We  should  have  been  saved 
the  bitter  contentions  of  Congress  with  his  successor,  and  the 
Ship  of  State  would  have  ridden  into  safe  harbor  with  no 
mutiny  on  board  and  the  captain  in  command. 

Indeed,  could  Sumner  have  been  conciliated  to  Lincoln's 
views,  it  would  have  been  comparatively  smooth  sailing.  Per 
sonal  friends,  their  one  main  difference  in  the  matter  of 
reconstruction  was  as  to  the  immediate  bestowal  of  suffrage 
upon  the  negro.  No  plan  would  Sumner  accept  that  did  not 
give  it.  Any  plan  would  Lincoln  accept  that  would  restore 
peace,  and  the  Union,  and  insure  the  rights  of  the  negro  in 
due  season.  To  utilize  his  own  homely  illustration  of  the  egg 
and  the  fowl,  he  would  make  sure  of  the  fowl  by  hatching 
the  egg  rather  than  by  smashing  it;  while  Sumner,  uncom 
promising  in  his  high  sense  of  supreme  duty,  and  single-eyed 
to  what  he  regarded  as  absolutely  right,  would  sooner  smash 
the  egg  than  have  a  chicken  not  fully  fledged.  It  is  interest 
ing  to  think  what  would  have  been  the  course  and  outcome 
of  the  struggle  between  these  two  great  leaders — the  great 
doctrinaire,  who  was  contented  only  with  the  consummation 
of  his  convictions,  though  the  heavens  fell,  and  the  great 
pacificator,  who  would  secure  the  same  ultimate  justice, 
though  he  gave  time  to  the  heavens  to  clear.  Again,  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  the  same  patient  tact,  the  same  hold 
on  the  popular  sentiment,  the  same  persuasive  appeal,  the 
same  winning  sympathy  with  the  plain  people  which  had  won 
the  debate  with  Douglas — which,  through  the  War,  had  gath 
ered  to  Lincoln's  support  the  constantly  rising  volume  of  the 
nation's  faith  and  confidence — would  have  given  him  the 
guidance  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Union. 

The  juster  verdict  of  lapsing  time  recognizes  the  honest 
purpose  of  Lincoln's  immediate  successor  in  his  views  on  re 
construction,  which  were,  perhaps,  not  far  removed  from 
Lincoln's  own.  And  yet  there  could  be  no  more  striking 


340  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

illustration  than  the  contrast  between  the  two  men  of  that 
marvellous  sense  and  wisdom  which  Lincoln  never  failed  to 
bring  to  the  solution  of  every  entanglement.  Not  of  him 
could  it  be  said,  "Vis  consili  expers  note  ruit  sua."  His  not 
the  tomahawk  of  Metacom,  but  the  persuasiveness  of  John 
Eliot. 

You  all  know  the  story  of  Lincoln's  death,  that  tragedy 
of  the  War.  The  Rebellion  was  crushed,  the  War  over,  the 
slave  free.  The  great  prophet  and  magistrate  had  fought  the 
good  fight  and  kept  the  faith.  The  pistol  bullet  of  a  drunken, 
mad  assassin  cut  the  thread  of  life,  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  dead,  a  martyr  on  the  altar  of  his  country. 

As  we  read  history — thank  God,  it  is  true  rather  of  the 
past  than  the  present — what  vice,  what  filth,  what  insolence, 
what  grinding  of  the  poor,  what  indifference  to  human  suffer 
ing,  what  contempt  of  human  rights,  what  rot  and  shame  and 
meanness,  have  been  the  personal  characteristics — though  some 
times  associated  with  .great  qualities  and  achievements — of 
most  of  the  rulers  of  the  world!  What  wonder  that  revolu 
tion  has  so  often  come  in  riot  and  rivers  of  blood!  What  a 
relief  to  turn  to  this  chosen  of  the  people,  without  stain  or 
spot,  this  pure  in  heart  and  blessed  of  the  Lord!  I  love  to 
picture  in  my  mind's  eye  not  more  the  ruler  than  the  man. 
I  fancy  him  at  the  consummation  of  his  glory — the  crown  of 
honor  lifted  to  his  head,  not  only  by  his  country,  but  by  the 
world — yet  simple  and  unaffected  still.  I  fancy  him  standing 
beneath  the  stars  on  the  heights  of  the  Soldiers'  Home,  gazing 
over  the  roofs  of  Washington  and  across  the  historic  Potomac, 
alone  and  lonely,  dreaming  not  of  his  fame  and  prestige,  but 
of  the  early  pioneer  days,  the  meagre  honest  home,  the 
mother's  devotion,  the  early  struggles,  the  first  revelations 
of  the  printed  page,  the  first  thrills  of  ambition  for  larger 
life,  the  growing  consciousness  and  exercise  of  natural  powers, 
the  free,  unconventional  life  of  the  prairie,  the  steady  eleva 
tion  to  higher  service,  the  people's  tournament  of  debate,  the 
long  four  years  of  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation,  years  tu 
multuous  with  war  and  intricate  with  statecraft,  a  nation  in 
convulsion,  an  earthquake  of  rending  forces,  a  fire  sweeping 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  341 

the  land,  but  after  and  above  all,  the  still  small  voice  of  an 
approving  conscience  at  peace  with  God. 

Not  his  that  saddest  of  all  historic  destinies — the  fate  of 
that  mighty  dynamo  that  once  shook  the  world,  but  at  last 
stood  an  inert  lump  on  a  lone  rock  in  mid-ocean — " coelum 
undique,  et  undique  pontus," — his  glories  and  principalities 
and  powers  now  only  dust  in  his  hands,  and  his  heart 
broken. 

And  how  truly  it  may  be  said  of  Lincoln,  he  still  lives! 
He  lives  in  bronze  and  marble  and  canvas;  he  lives  in  the 
memory  of  a  grateful  country.  His  sympathy  with  the  plain 
people,  felt  by  him  and  by  them,  yet  indescribable  in  words, 
has  given  him  a  place  in  their  hearts  closer  than  that  of  any 
other  public  man.  He  will  stand  with  Washington,  foremost 
among  our  great  ones.  We  lack  discrimination  when  we  say 
of  this  or  that  man  that  he  was  the  greatest.  But  this  may 
be  said  of  Lincoln,  that  of  all  Americans,  if  not  of  all  men 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  achieved  the  most  enduring, 
the  greatest  and  purest  fame.  With  neither  the  culture  of 
Sumner  nor  the  might  of  Webster — yet  either  of  them  in  Lin 
coln's  place,  you  instinctively  feel,  would  have  fallen  below 
him  in  the  discharge  of  his  trust.  No  doubt  his  growth  up 
ward  was  largely  due  to  his  presidential  culture  and  pruning, 
and  that  he  was  a  greater  man  at  its  close  than  at  its  begin 
ning.  And,  when  we  speak  of  him  as  great,  we  mean  great 
in  the  general  impressive  sense.  There  is  a  greatness  of  pure 
intellect,  of  pure  force,  independent  of  circumstances,  like  some 
tall  memorial  shaft  springing  from  the  earth  to  the  sky. 
There  is  another  greatness  that  is  like  some  mountain-side 
rich  with  foliage  and  verdure,  towering  above  the  plain  and 
yet  a  part  of  it.  Lincoln,  no  doubt,  in  marvellous  variety 
of  talent  comes  short  of  Franklin ;  in  quick  fertility  of  genius, 
of  Hamilton ;  in  philosophic  vision,  of  Jefferson.  But  in  im- 
pressiveness  on  his  time,  and  in  his  stamp  on  history  and  pub 
lic  sentiment,  Lincoln  leads.  He  is  the  great  American  of 
his  age, 

"New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  First  American." 


342  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

There  is  an  element  in  this  kind  of  popular  greatness  with 
out  which  the  title  of  great  is  never  at  last  conferred.  It  is 
the  moral  element  of  sincerity  and  truth.  There  have  been 
men  who  rendered  inestimable  services  to  their  country, 
whose  words  were  patriotic  fire,  whose  shoulders  upheld  the 
Republic,  and  yet  there  goes  with  their  names  the  unspoken 
consciousness  of  a  lack  of  entire  faith  in  them.  It  is  the 
singular  glory  of  Lincoln  that  with  all  his  ambition  we  feel 
he  was  true  to  the  profoundest  moral  instincts.  God  be 
praised  that  amid  all  doubt,  and  in  spite  of  so  many  crumbling 
idols,  there  be  now  and  then— aye,  often — a  soul  that  mounts 
and  keeps  its  place!  Our  tributes  are  not  more  to  him  per 
sonally,  than  to  the  ideal  of  moral  character  which  we  have 
taught  ourselves,  and  are  teaching  our  children,  that  he  stands 
for.  There  lie  the  true  significance  and  value  of  our  exalta 
tion  of  him. 

Honor  to  your  memory,  homely  rail-splitter  President,  that 
no  act  or  motive  of  yours  has  ever  been  counted  in  derogation 
of  the  integrity  of  your  life  or  example!  Good  and  faithful 
servant,  stand  forever  forth  in  the  people's  hall  of  fame, 
crowned  with  their  undying  love  and  praise — sainted — im 
mortal  ! 


LINCOLN:  "VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH" 

HON.    HENRY   CABOT  LODGE 

YOU  have  asked  me  to  address  you  upon  this,  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln;  to  express  for  you  and  to  you  some  of  the  thoughts 
which  ought  to  find  utterance  when,  on  the  completion  of  the 
century,  we  seek  to  pay  fit  homage  to  the  memory  of  that 
great  man. 

I  know  not  how  it  may  be  with  the  many  others,  who,  in 
these  days  of  commemoration,  will  speak  of  Lincoln,  but  to 
me  the  dominant  feeling,  as  I  approach  my  subject,  is  a  sense 
of  helplessness,  and  a  sharp  realization  of  the  impossibility  of 
doing  justice  to  such  an  occasion.  To  attempt  here  a  review 
of  his  life  would  be  labor  lost.  Ten  stately  volumes  by  those 
who  lived  in  closest  communion  with  him,  and  who  knew  him 
best,  were  not  more  than  adequate  to  tell  fitly  the  story  of 
his  life.  That  story,  too,  in  varying  form,  is  known  to  all 
the  people,  "  familiar  in  their  mouths  as  household  words. " 
From  the  early  days  of  dire  poverty,  from  the  log  cabin  of 
the  shiftless  pioneer,  ever  moving  forward  in  search  of  a 
fortune  which  never  came,  from  the  picture  of  the  boy  work 
ing  his  sums,  or  reading  his  Bible  and  his  Milton  by  the  red 
light  of  the  fire,  the  marvellous  tale  goes  onward  and  upward 
to  the  solemn  scene  of  the  second  inaugural,  and  to  the  burial 
of  the  great  chief  amid  the  lamentations  of  a  nation.  We 
know  it  all,  and  the  story  is  one  of  the  great  treasures  of  the 
American  people. 

Still  more  impossible  would  it  be  in  a  brief  moment  here 
to  draw,  even  in  the  barest  outline,  a  sketch  of  the  events 
in  which  his  was  the  commanding  presence,  for  that  would  be 
to  write  the  history  of  the  United  States  during  the  most 
crowded  and  most  terrible  years  of  our  existence  as  a  nation. 

34,3 


344  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Yet  if  Lincoln's  life  and  deeds,  by  their  very  magnitude, 
thus  exclude  us  from  any  attempt  even  to  enumerate  them, 
there  is,  nevertheless,  something  still  better  which  we  can  do 
upon  this  day,  forever  made  memorable  by  his  birth.  We 
can  render  to  him  what  I  venture  to  think  is  the  truest  hom 
age,  that  which  I  believe  he  would  prize  most,  and  compared 
to  which  any  other  is  little  more  than  lip  service.  We  can 
pause  to-day  in  the  hurry  of  daily  life  and  contemplate  that 
great,  lonely,  tragic  figure — that  imagination  with  its  touch 
of  the  poet,  that  keen,  strong  mind,  with  its  humor  and  its 
pathos,  that  splendid  common  sense  and  pure  character — and 
then  learn  from  the  life  which  the  possessor  of  all  these 
qualities  lived,  and  from  the  deeds  which  he  did,  lessons 
which  may  not  be  without  value  to  each  one  of  us  in  our 
own  lives,  in  teaching  us  the  service  which  we  should  render 
to  our  country.  Let  me  express  my  meaning,  with  slight 
variation,  in  his  own  immortal  words:  The  world  will  little 
note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never 
forget  what  [he]  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to 
be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  he  who  fought 
here  has  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced. 

In  his  spirit,  I  am  about  to  suggest  a  few  thoughts  among 
the  many  which  have  come  to  me  as  I  have  meditated  upon 
the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  upon  what,  with  that  great 
theme  before  me,  I  should  say  to  you  to-day. 

I  desire  first,  if  I  can,  to  take  you  back  for  a  moment  to 
the  living  man,  and  thereby  show  you  what  some  of  his  trials 
were,  and  how  he  met  them,  for,  in  doing  so,  I  believe  we  can 
learn  how  to  deal  with  our  own  problems.  I  think,  too,  that 
if  we  thus  look  upon  him  with  considerate  eyes,  we  shall  be 
inspired  to  seek,  in  public  affairs,  for  more  charitable  and 
better  instructed  judgments  upon  public  men  and  public 
events  than  are  common  now.  We  are  apt,  unconsciously 
and  almost  inevitably,  to  confuse  in  our  minds  the  Lincoln 
of  to-day — the  Lincoln  of  history,  as  he  dwells  in  our  hearts 
and  our  imaginations — with  the  actual  man  who  was  President 
of  the  United  States  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War,  and 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  345 

who  struggled  forward  amid  difficulties  greater,  almost,  than 
any  ever  encountered  by  a  leader  of  men. 

Mankind  has  never  lost  its  capacity  for  weaving  myths, 
or  its  inborn  love  for  them.  This  faculty,  or  rather  this  in 
nate  need  of  human  nature,  is  apparent  in  the  earliest  pages 
of  human  history.  The  beautiful  and  tragic  myths,  born  of 
the  Greek  imagination,  which  have  inspired  poets  and 
dramatists  for  three  thousand  years,  come  to  us  out  of  the  dim 
past  with  the  light  of  a  roseate  dawn  upon  them.  They  come 
to  us  alike  in  the  great  verse  of  Homer,  and  veiled  in  the 
gray  mists  of  the  north,  where  we  descry  the  shadows  of 
fighting  men,  and  hear  the  clash  of  swords  and  the  wild 
screams  of  the  Valkyries.  The  leaders  of  tribes,  the  founders 
of  States,  the  eponymous  and  autochthonous  heroes  in  the 
infancy  of  civilization  were  all  endowed  by  the  popular  imag 
ination  with  a  divine  descent  and  a  near  kinship  to  the  gods. 
We  do  not  give  our  heroes  godlike  ancestors — although  I 
have  seen  a  book  which  traces  the  pedigree  of  Washington 
to  Odin — but  when  they  are  great  enough,  we  transmute  the 
story  of  their  lives  into  a  myth,  just  like  the  Greeks  and  the 
Norsemen.  Do  not  imagine  from  this  that  I  am  about  to 
tell  you  of  the  * '  real ' '  or  the  * '  true  ' '  Lincoln.  Nothing  would 
be  more  alien  to  my  purpose,  or  more  distasteful,  for  I 
have  observed  that,  as  a  rule,  when  these  words  are  prefixed 
to  the  subject  of  a  biography  it  usually  means  that  we  have 
spread  before  us  a  collection  of  petty  details  and  unworthy 
gossip  which  presents  an  utterly  distorted  view  of  a  great 
man,  which  is,  in  substance,  entirely  false,  and  which  grati 
fies  only  those  envious  minds  which  like  to  see  superiority 
brought  down  to  their  own  level.  Such  presentations  are  as 
ignoble  and  base  as  the  popular  myth,  however  erroneous,  is 
loving  and  beautiful — a  manifestation  of  that  noble  quality 
in  human  nature  which  Carlyle  has  described  in  his  "Hero 
Worship."  I  wish  merely  to  detach  Lincoln  from  the  myth 
— which  has  possession  of  us  all — that  h'is  wisdom,  his  purity, 
and  his  greatness  were  as  obvious  and  acknowledged  in  his 
lifetime  as  they  are  to-day.  We  have  this  same  feeling  about 
the  one  man  in  American  history  who  stands  beside  Lincoln 


346  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

in  unchallenged  equality  of  greatness.  Washington,  indeed, 
is  so  far  removed  that  we  have  lost  our  conception  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  bitterly  criticised,  that  he  struggled  with 
many  difficulties,  and  that  his  words,  which  to  us  have  an 
almost  sacred  significance,  were,  when  they  were  uttered, 
treated  by  some  persons  then  extant  with  contempt.  Let  me 
give  you  an  idea  of  what  certain  people,  now  quite  forgotten, 
thought  of  Washington  when  he  went  out  of  office.  On  the 
sixth  of  March,  1797,  the  leading  newspaper  of  the  opposition 
spoke  as  follows : 

"'Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace/  was  the 
pious  ejaculation  of  a  pious  man  who  beheld  a  flood  of  happiness  rush 
ing  in  upon  mankind.  If  ever  there  was  a  time  that  would  license  the 
reiteration  of  the  ejaculation,  that  time  has  now  arrived,  for  the  man 
who  is  the  source  of  all  the  misfortunes  of  our  country  is  this  day 
reduced  to  a  level  with  his  fellow  citizens,  and  is  no  longer  possessed 
of  power  to  multiply  evils  upon  the  United  States.  If  ever  there  was 
a  period  for  rejoicing,  this  is  the  moment.  Every  heart  in  unison  with 
the  freedom  and  happiness  of  the  people,  ought  to  beat  high  with 
exultation  that  the  name  of  Washington  ceases  from  this  day  to  give 
currency  to  political  insults  and  to  legalized  corruption.  A  new  era 
is  now  opening  upon  us — an  era  which  promises  much  to  the  people, 
for  public  measures  must  now  stand  upon  their  own  merits,  and  ne 
farious  projects  can  no  longer  be  supported  by  a  name.  When  a 
retrospect  has  been  taken  of  the  Washington  administration  for  eight 
years,  it  is  a  subject  of  the  greatest  astonishment  that  a  single  individ 
ual  should  have  cankered  the  principles  of  Republicanism  in  an  en 
lightened  people  just  emerging  from  the  gulf  of  despotism,  and  should 
have  carried  his  designs  against  the  public  liberty  so  far  as  to  have 
put  in  jeopardy  its  very  existence.  Such,  however,  are  the  facts,  and 
with  these  staring  us  in  the  face,  the  day  ought  to  be  a  jubilee  in  the 
United  States." 

How  strange  and  unreal  this  sounds  to  us  who  know  not 
merely  that  George  Washington  led  the  army  of  the  United 
States  to  victory,  but  that  his  administration  established  our 
Union  and  our  government,  which  Lincoln,  leading  the  Amer 
ican  people,  was  destined  to  preserve.  The  myth  has  grown 
so  powerful  that  it  is  hard  to  comprehend  that  actual  living 
men  were  uttering  words  like  these  about  George  Washington. 

The  same  feeling  in  regard  to  Lincoln  began  to  take  form 


H  C  LODGE..  CHAIRMAN 


UNITED  STATES  SENATE 

COMMITTEE:  ONTHE  PHILIPPINES 


/£.'  <L~~  £^a^v  r-ri.  PV-^-«. 


Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Hon.  Henry  Cahot  Lodge, 
United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts 


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6-&-V-&J  ' 


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Facsimile  of  Manuscript  Tribute  from  Rev.  Lyman  T.  Abbott, 
Editor  of  "The  Outlook" 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  347 

even  earlier  than  in  the  case  of  Washington.  The  manner  of 
his  death  made  men  see,  as  by  a  flash  of  lightning,  what  he 
was  and  what  he  has  done,  even  before  the  grave  closed  over 
him.  Nothing  illustrates  the  violent  revulsion  of  sentiment 
which  then  occurred  better  than  the  verses  which  appeared 
in  "Punch"  when  the  news  of  his  death  reached  England. 
He  had  been  jeered  at,  abused,  vilified,  and  caricatured  in 
England  to  a  degree  which  can  be  understood  only  by  those 
who  lived  through  that  time,  or  who  have  turned  over  the 
newspapers  and  magazines,  or  read  the  memoirs  and  diaries 
of  that  epoch.  In  this  chorus  of  abuse  "Punch"  had  not 
lagged  behind.  Then  came  the  assassination,  and  then  these 
verses  by  Tom  Taylor,  written  to  accompany  Tenniel's  car 
toon  representing  England  laying  a  wreath  on  Lincoln 's  bier : 

"Beside  this  corpse,  that  bears  for  winding  sheet 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  he  lived  to  rear  anew, 
Between  the  mourners  at  his  head  and  feet, 
Say,  scurril  jester,  is  there  room  for  you? 

"Yes,  he  had  lived  to  shame  me  from  my  sneer, 

To  lame  my  pencil  and  confute  my  pen; 
To  make  me  own  this  hind  of  princes  peer, 
This  rail-splitter  a  true  born  king  of  men." 

How,  at  a  glance,  we  see  not  only  the  greatness  and  nobility 
of  the  man,  forcing  themselves  upon  the  minds  of  men,  abroad 
as  at  home,  but  how  keenly  these  remorseful  verses  make  us 
realize  the  storm  of  abuse,  of  criticism  and  defamation  through 
which  he  had  passed  to  victory ! 

From  that  day  to  this  the  tide  of  feeling  has  swept  on, 
until,  with  Lincoln,  as  with  Washington,  we  have  become 
unable,  without  a  serious  effort,  to  realize  the  attacks  which 
he  met,  the  assaults  which  were  made  upon  him  or  the  sore 
trials  which  he  had  to  endure.  I  would  fain  show  you  how 
the  actual  man,  living  in  those  terrible  years,  met  one  or 
two  of  the  attacks. 

Lincoln  believed  that  the  first  step  toward  the  salvation  of 
the  Union  was  to  limit  the  area  of  secession.  He  wished 
above  all  things,  therefore,  to  hold  in  the  Union  the  border 


348  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

States,  as  they  were  then  called.  If  those  States  were  added 
to  the  Confederacy,  the  chances  of  saving  the  Union  would 
have  been  seriously  diminished.  In  those  same  States  there 
was  a  strong  Union  feeling,  and  a  very  weak  anti-slavery  feel 
ing.  If  they  could  be  convinced  that  the  controlling  purpose 
of  the  War  was  to  preserve  the  Union,  the  chances  were  that 
they  could  be  held,  but  if  they  were  made  to  believe  that  the 
real  object  of  the  War  was  the  abolition  of  slavery,  they  would 
probably  have  been  lost.  Lincoln,  therefore,  had  checked 
Fremont  in  issuing  orders  for  the  liberation  of  the  slaves,  and 
in  the  first  year  of  the  War  had  done  nothing  in  that  direc 
tion,  for  reasons  which  seemed  to  him  good,  and  which,  to 
all  men  to-day,  appear  profoundly  wise.  Abolitionists,  and 
extreme  anti-slavery  men  everywhere,  were  bitterly  disap 
pointed,  and  a  flood  of  criticism  was  let  loose  upon  him  for 
his  attitude  in  this  matter,  while  at  the  same  time  he  was 
also  denounced  by  reactionaries,  and  by  the  opposition  as  a 
" Radical' '  and  " Black  Republican."  Horace  Greeley,  an 
able  editor  and  an  honest  man,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union,  but  a  lifelong  and  ardent  opponent  of  slavery,  assailed 
the  President  in  The  New  York  Tribune.  Here  is  Lincoln's 
reply : 

"As  to  the  policy  I  'seem  to  be  pursuing,'  as  you  say,  I  have  not 
meant  to  leave  anyone  in  doubt. 

"I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the  shortest  way  under 
the  Constitution.  The  sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored, 
the  nearer  the  Union  will  be  'the  Union  as  it  was.'  If  there  be  those 
who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save 
slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would 
not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy 
slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object  in  this 
struggle  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  de 
stroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave, 
I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would 
do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone, 
I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race, 
I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union;  and  what  I  forbear, 
I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I 
shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  that  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the 
cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing  more  will 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  349 

help  the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors, 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true 
views. 

"I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  view  of  official 
duty;  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish 
that  all  men  everywhere  could  be  free." 

What  a  reply  that  is !  Using  his  unrivalled  power  of  state 
ment  he  sets  forth  his  policy  with  a  force  which  drives 
opposition  helpless  before  it  and  renders  retort  impossible. 
He  strips  the  issue  bare  of  every  irrelevant  consideration 
and  makes  it  so  plain  that  no  one  can  mistake  it. 

This  was  a  case  of  specific  criticism.  There  were  others  of 
a  more  general  nature.  A  few  months  after  Greeley  wrote, 
Lincoln  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Carl  Schurz.  Mr.  Schurz, 
who  has  been  a  familiar  figure  to  the  present  generation,  was 
an  able  man  and  a  very  eloquent  and  effective  speaker,  espe 
cially  upon  economic  subjects.  He  was  also  fond  of  criticising 
other  people  who  were  doing  work  for  which  they  were  re 
sponsible  and  not  he.  His  system  of  criticism  was  a  simple 
one.  He  would  depict  an  ideal  President,  or  Cabinet  officer, 
or  Senator;  put  him  in  an  ideal  situation,  surrounded  by 
conditions  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  with  this  imaginary  per 
son,  he  would  then  contrast,  most  unfavorably,  the  actual 
man  who  was  trying  to  get  results  out  of  conditions  which 
were  not  at  all  as  they  ought  to  be,  but  which,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  actually  existed.  This  method  of  discussion,  of  course, 
presented  Mr.  Schurz  in  a  very  admirable  light,  and  gave  him 
a  great  reputation,  especially  with  people  who  had  never  been 
called  upon  to  bear  any  public  responsibility  at  all.  When 
Mr.  Schurz  was  in  the  Cabinet  himself  he  fell  easily  into  the 
class  which  he  criticised,  and,  naturally,  bore  no  relation  to 
the  ideal  by  which  he  tried  other  people,  but  that  fact  never 
altered  the  opinion  of  his  greatness  entertained  by  his  ad 
mirers.  They  liked  to  hear  him  find  fault  pointedly  and 
eloquently  with  their  contemporaries,  but  they  forgot  or  over 
looked  the  fact  that  in  the  past  he  had  applied  his  system  to 
Lincoln,  and  in  that  connection  the  process  seems  less  con 
vincing. 


350  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Here  is  Lincoln 's  reply  to  Mr.  Schurz  's  criticism : 

"EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  Nov.  24,  1862. 
GENERAL  CARL  SCHURZ, 

"MY  DEAR  SIR:  I  have  just  received  and  read  your  letter  of  the 
20th.  The  purport  of  it  is,  that  we  lost  the  late  elections,  and  the  ad 
ministration  is  failing,  because  the  war  is  unsuccessful,  and  that  I  must 
not  flatter  myself  that  I  am  not  justly  to  blame  for  it.  I  certainly 
know  that  if  the  war  fails,  the  Administration  fails,  and  that  I 
will  be  blamed  for  it,  whether  I  deserve  it  or  not.  And  I  ought  to 
be  blamed,  if  I  could  do  better.  You  think  I  could  do  better;  there 
fore  you  blame  me  already.  I  think  I  could  not  do  better;  therefore 
I  blame  you  for  blaming  me.  I  understand  you  now  to  be  willing 
to  accept  the  help  of  men  who  are  not  Republicans,  provided  they  have 
'heart  in  it/  Agreed.  I  want  no  others.  But  who  is  to  be  the  judge 
of  hearts,  or  of  'heart  in  it'?  If  I  must  discard  my  own  judgment  and 
take  yours,  I  must  also  take  that  of  others;  and  by  the  time  I  should 
reject  all  I  should  be  advised  to  reject,  I  should  have  none  left, 
Republicans  or  others — not  even  yourself.  For  be  assured,  my  dear 
sir,  there  are  men  who  have  'heart  in  it'  that  think  you  are  performing 
your  part  as  poorly  as  you  think  I  am  performing  mine." 

In  these  two  letters  which  I  have  quoted  lie  great  lessons. 
There  is  not  a  man  to-day,  whose  judgment  would  be  of  any 
value,  who  does  not  know  that  Lincoln,  in  these  instances,  was 
absolutely  right,  and  his  critics  hopelessly  and  ignorantly 
wrong.  They  teach  us  that  a  great  executive  officer,  dealing 
with  the  most  momentous  problems,  cannot  do  everything  at 
once;  that  he  must  subordinate  the  lesser  to  the  greater  if 
he  would  not  fail  entirely;  that  he  must  do  the  best  he  can, 
and  not  lose  all  by  striving  vainly  for  the  ideally  best.  He 
must  steer,  also,  between  the  radical  extremists  on  the  one 
side  and  the  reactionary  extremists  on  the  other — no  easy 
task,  and  one  which  Lincoln  performed  with  a  perfection 
rarely  seen  among  men.  Lincoln  could  have  said,  with  abso 
lute  truth,  as  Seneca 's  Pilot  says,  in  Montaigne 's  paraphrase : 

"Oh,  Neptune,  thou  mayest  save  me  if  thou  wilt;  thou  mayest  sink 
me  if  thou  wilt;  but  whatever  may  befall  I  shall  hold  my  tiller 
true." 

As  we  look  at  this  correspondence,  and  see  how  Lincoln 
was  criticised  by  able  men  on  a  point  where  the  judgment  of 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  351 

events  and  of  history  alike  has  gone  wholly  in  his  favor,  is 
it  not  well  for  us,  before  passing  hasty  judgment  and  indulg 
ing  in  quick  condemnation,  to  reflect  that  the  man  charged  with 
great  public  duties  may  have  a  knowledge  of  conditions  and 
possess  sources  of  information  which  are  not  known  to  the 
world,  or  even  to  those  who  criticise  ?  Both  for  men  in  public 
life,  and  for  those  who  criticise  these  men,  I  think  this  corre 
spondence  contains  many  lessons  in  conduct  and  character 
which,  if  taken  to  heart,  will  make  the  public  service  better 
and  the  judgment  of  the  onlooker  less  hasty. 

The  thought  and  the  admonition  which  these  glimpses  of 
the  past  bring  to  us,  have  been  put  into  noble  verse  by  a  poet 
of  our  own  day,  and  it  is  to  the  poet  that  we  must  always 
turn  for  the  best  expression  of  what  we  try  to  say  with  the 
faltering  words  of  prose : 

"A  flying  word  from  here  and  there, 

Had  sown  the  name  at  which  we  sneered, 
But  soon  the  name  was  everywhere, 

To  be  reviled  and  then  revered: 
A  presence  to  be  loved  and  feared, 

We  cannot  hide  it  or  deny 
That  we,  the  gentlemen  who  jeered, 

May  be  forgotten  by  and  by." 

Consider,  also,  the  result.  Lincoln's  paramount  purpose 
was  to  save  the  Union,  and  he  saved  it.  His  critics  thought 
he  was  sacrificing  the  anti-slavery  cause.  He  thought  other 
wise,  and  he  was  right.  At  the  accepted  time  he  emancipated 
the  slaves  and  signed  the  death  warrant  of  human  slavery. 
Had  he  struck  at  the  wrong  moment  he  might  have  ruined  the 
Union  cause  and  thereby  left  the  slaves  in  bondage.  He  was 
a  great  statesman,  and  he  knew  all  the  conditions,  not  merely 
a  part  of  them.  He  therefore  succeeded  where  his  critics 
would  have  failed. 

Turn  now  from  the  difficulties  and  the  criticisms  with  which 
Lincoln  contended  upon  his  own  side,  and  which  surrounded 
him  like  a  network,  through  which  he  had  to  cut  or  break  his 
way  as  best  he  might,  and  look  with  me  for  a  moment  at  the 
force  with  which  he  was  doing  battle,  and  see  whether  we  can 


352  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

also  find  a  lesson  there.  Lincoln's  purpose  was  to  save  the 
Union;  the  object  of  those  with  whom  he  fought  was  to 
destroy  it.  I  am  not  going  to  waste  time  upon  that  emptiest 
of  all  questions,  whether  the  States  had  the  right,  under  the 
Constitution,  to  secede.  The  purpose  of  the  Constitution,  if  it 
had  meaning  or  purpose,  was  to  make  a  nation  out  of  jarring 
States,  and  that  it  had  succeeded  in  doing  so  was  stated  by 
iWebster,  once  and  for  all,  when  he  replied  to  Hayne  in  the 
greatest  speech  ever  made  in  the  Senate.  Secession  was  the 
destruction  of  the  Union,  whether  the  Constitution  provided 
for  such  a  contradiction  as  the  right  of  secession  or  not. 
Secession  was  revolution,  and  revolution  is  not  to  be  stopped, 
or  to  be  provided  for,  by  paper  constitutions.  This  particular 
revolution,  however,  found  its  reason  and  its  excuse  in  the 
doctrine  of  State  rights.  Under  cover  of  maintaining  the 
rights  of  States,  the  Union  was  to  be  destroyed.  On  this 
issue  the  War  was  fought  out.  The  Union  was  victorious, 
and  the  rights  of  States  emerged  from  the  conflict  beaten  and 
discredited.  The  result  brought  with  it  a  new  danger  in  the 
direction  of  a  disproportionate  growth  in  the  power  of  the 
central  government,  and  this  peril  the  fanatics  of  State 
rights,  and  no  one  else,  had  brought  upon  themselves  and 
upon  the  country.  In  the  first  public  speech  which  I  ever 
delivered — some  thirty  years  ago,  alas! — I  said: 

.  .  .  "The  principle  of  State  rights  is  as  vital  and  essential  as 
the  national  principle  itself.  If  the  former,  carried  to  extremes,  means 
anarchy,  the  latter,  carried  to  like  extremes,  means  centralization  and 
despotism. 

"Two  lessons  are  clearly  written  on  the  pages  which  record  the 
strife  between  the  inborn  love  of  local  independence  and  the  broader 
spirit  of  nationality  created  by  the  Constitution.  One  is  reverence 
for  the  Constitution;  the  other,  a  careful  maintenance  of  the  principle 
of  State  rights." 

To  these  general  views  I  have  always  adhered,  and  I  repeat 
them  now  because  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  what 
I  am  about  to  say  in  regard  to  State  rights  at  the  present 
time.  The  subject  is  one  of  deep  importance  and  ought  never 
to  be  neglected.  The  growth  in  power  of  the  central  govern 
ment  is  inevitable,  because  it  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  353 

growth  of  the  country.  There  is  no  danger  that  this  move 
ment  will  be  too  slow;  there  is  danger  that  it  will  be  too 
rapid  and  too  extensive.  The  strength  of  our  American  sys 
tem  resides  in  the  fact  that  we  have  a  Union  of  States,  that 
we  are  neither  a  weak  and  chaotic  confederation,  nor  one 
highly  centralized  government.  It  is  of  the  highest  impor 
tance  that  the  States  should  be  maintained  in  all  their  proper 
rights,  and  the  Constitution  scrupulously  observed,  but  when 
the  Constitution  is  thrust  forward  every  day,  on  every  oc 
casion,  serious  and  trivial  alike,  whether  applicable  or  inap 
plicable,  and  for  mere  purposes  of  obstruction,  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Union  is  not  injured,  but  the  Constitution  is 
brought  into  contempt,  and  the  profound  respect  which  we 
all  should  feel  for  that  great  instrument  is  impaired.  In 
the  same  way,  the  rights  of  the  States — the  true  rights — are 
again  in  danger  at  this  time,  not  from  those  who  would 
trench  upon  them,  but  from  those  who  abuse  them,  as  did 
the  advocates  of  secession.  Nothing  can  accelerate  the  growth 
of  the  national  power  to  an  unwholesome  degree  so  much  as 
the  failure  of  the  States,  from  local  or  selfish  motives,  to  do 
their  part  in  the  promotion  of  measures  which  the  good  of 
the  whole  people,  without  respect  to  State  lines,  demands. 
No  such  reproach,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  lies  at  the  door  of 
Massachusetts.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  said, 
not  once  but  many  times,  that  if  every  State  had  adopted 
corporation  and  railroad  laws  like  those  of  Massachusetts 
there  would  have  been  no  need  of  much  of  that  national  rail 
road  legislation  which  he  has  advised,  and  which  has  been 
largely  enacted.  He  has  also  said,  in  regard  to  our  laws 
relating  to  health,  that  if  every  State  had  the  same  system 
there  would  have  been  but  little  need  of  the  Pure  Food  Act. 
There  are  other  States  which  have  a  record  like  that  of  Mas 
sachusetts  in  these  directions,  but  there  are  many  which  have 
not.  The  result  of  this  neglect,  and  of  local  selfishness,  has 
been  national  legislation  and  a  great  extension  of  the  national 
power,  brought  on  directly  either  by  the  failure  of  the  States 
to  act,  or  by  thrusting  State  interests  and  State  rights  across 
the  path  of  progress. 
23 


354  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Take  another  and  far  more  serious  phase  of  this  same 
question.  We  can  deal  with  foreign  nations  only  through  the 
United  States.  By  the  Constitution,  a  treaty  is  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land.  No  State  can  make  a  treaty,  and  yet  a 
treaty  is  worthless  if  any  State  in  the  Union  can  disregard 
it  at  pleasure.  The  people  of  the  United  States  will  not  long 
suffer  their  foreign  relations  to  be  imperilled,  nor  permit  the 
peace  of  the  country  to  be  put  in  jeopardy,  because  some  one 
State  does  not  choose  to  submit  to  the  action  of  the  general 
government  in  a  matter  with  which  the  general  government 
alone  can  deal.  They  will  not  permit  a  Legislature  or  a  City 
Council  to  disregard  treaties  and  endanger  our  relations  with 
other  countries.  Those  who  force  State  rights  into  our  for 
eign  relations,  will  eventually  bring  on  a  situation  from  which 
those  rights  will  emerge  as  broken  and  discredited  as  they 
did  from  the  Civil  War.  They  were  the  enemy,  powerful  in 
their  influence  upon  the  minds  of  men,  with  which  Lincoln 
grappled,  and  which  he  finally  overthrew.  The  danger  to 
the  rights  of  States  does  not  arise  now,  any  more  than  it 
did  in  1861,  from  the  incursions  of  the  national  government, 
but  from  the  follies  of  those  who  try  to  use  them  as  a  cover 
for  resistance  to  the  general  government  in  the  execution  of 
the  duties  committed  to  it.  Congress  alone  can  declare  war. 
The  President  and  the  Senate  alone  can  make  peace.  It  is 
not  to  be  tolerated  that  one  or  two  States  shall  assert  the 
power  to  force  the  country  into  war  to  gratify  their  own 
prejudices.  Their  rights  will  be  protected  by  the  general 
government  sedulously  and  fearlessly,  but  if  they  venture  to 
usurp  or  to  deride  the  national  authority  they  will  be  forced 
to  yield  to  the  power  of  the  Union,  and  the  State  rights  which 
they  have  wrongly  invoked,  and  their  indifference  to  the  in 
terests  of  the  nation,  will  meet  the  punishment  they  deserve. 
The  day  has  passed  when  one  State,  or  a  few  States,  could  in 
terfere  with  the  government  of  the  Union  in  its  own  field. 
Lincoln  smote  down  that  baleful  theory  when  he  crushed  se 
cession  and  saved  the  Union.  But  if  we  are  wise,  it  is  to  the 
States  themselves  that  we  ought  to  look  for  the  preservation 
of  the  rights  of  the  States,  which  are  so  essential  to  our 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  355 

system  of  government,  and  the  States  can  preserve  their 
rights  only  by  doing  their  duty  individually  in  regard  to 
measures  with  which  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  all  the 
States  is  bound  up,  and  by  not  seeking  to  thwart  the  general 
government  in  the  performance  of  the  high  functions  en 
trusted  to  it  by  the  Constitution.  If  the  advocates  of  the 
extreme  doctrines  of  State  rights  use  them  not  for  the  pro 
tection  of  local  self-government,  but  to  promote  selfish  in 
terests  hostile  to  the  general  welfare,  or  still  more  to  embarrass 
and  paralyze  the  national  government  in  the  performance 
of  the  duties  for  which  it  was  created,  the  people  will  not 
endure  it,  and  State  rights  will  be  unduly  weakened,  if  not 
swept  away — a  result  greatly  to  be  deplored. 

In  the  Civil  War  the  fighting  champions  of  State  rights 
bound  them  up  with  the  cause  of  slavery,  which  was  not  only 
an  evil  and  a  wrong,  but  which  was  a  gross  anachronism — 
a  stumbling  block  in  the  onward  march  of  the  Republic. 
They  and  their  allies,  the  Copperheads,  the  Southern  sympa 
thizers,  and  the  timid  commercialism  of  the  North,  proclaimed 
that  they  were  conservatives,  and  denounced  Lincoln  as  a 
revolutionist.  ''Radical,"  "Black  Republican,"  "tyrant," 
were  among  the  mildest  of  the  epithets  they  heaped  upon  him. 
Yet  the  reality  was  the  exact  reverse  of  this.  Lincoln  was 
the  true  conservative,  and  he  gave  his  life  to  preserve  and  con 
struct,  not  to  change  and  destroy. 

The  men  who  sought  to  rend  the  Union  asunder  in  order 
to  shelter  slavery  beneath  State  rights,  the  reactionaries  who 
set  themselves  against  the  march  of  human  liberty,  were  the 
real  revolutionists.  Lincoln's  policy  was  to  secure  progress 
and  right  by  the  limitation  and  extinction  of  slavery,  but 
his  mission  was  to  preserve  and  maintain  the  Union.  He 
sought  to  save  and  to  create,  not  to  destroy,  and  yet  he 
wrought  at  the  same  time  the  greatest  reform  ever  accom 
plished  in  the  history  of  the  nation.  Let  us  learn  from  him 
that  reaction  is  not  conservatism,  and  that  violent  change  and 
the  abandonment  of  the  traditions  and  principles  which  have 
made  us  great  is  not  progress,  but  revolution  and  confusion. 

One  word  upon  one  other  text  and  I  have  done.     In  Au- 


356  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

gust,  1864,  Lincoln  one  morning  asked  his  Cabinet  to  sign 
their  names  on  the  back  of  a  sealed  and  folded  paper.  After 
the  election,  in  the  following  November,  he  opened  the  paper 
in  the  presence  of  his  Cabinet,  and  these  words  were  found 
written  therein : 

"EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  August  23,  1864. 
"This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceedingly  probable 
that  this  administration  will  not  be  reflected.  Then  it  will  be  my 
duty  to  so  cooperate  with  the  President-elect  as  to  save  the  Union 
between  the  election  and  the  inauguration;  as  he  will  have  secured  his 
election  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  afterward. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

Was  there  ever  a  nobler  patriotism  shown  by  any  man 
than  is  contained  in  those  few  lines?  What  utter  forgetful- 
ness  of  self,  what  devotion  to  the  country  do  they  reveal! 
Then,  as  at  the  beginning,  we  see  him  driving  straight  for 
ward  to  his  one  mighty  purpose — the  salvation  of  the  Union. 
No  criticism,  no  personal  defeat,  nothing  could  change  that 
great  intent.  There,  indeed,  is  a  lesson  to  be  learned  and 
to  be  repeated  from  day  to  day.  We  none  of  us  can  be  an 
Abraham  Lincoln,  but  we  all  can  try  to  follow  in  his  footsteps. 
If  we  do  so,  the  country  will  rise  to  ever  new  heights,  as  he 
would  fain  have  had  it. 

That  nation  has  not  lived  in  vain  which  has  given  to  the 
world  Washington  and  Lincoln — the  best  great  men,  and  the 
greatest  good  men,  whom  history  can  show.  But  if  we  content 
ourselves  with  eulogy,  and  neglect  the  teaching  of  their  lives, 
we  are  unworthy  of  the  heritage  they  have  left  us.  To  us 
they  offer  lofty  ideals  to  which  we  may  not,  perhaps  cannot, 
attain;  but  it  is  only  by  aiming  at  ideals  which  are  never 
reached  that  the  great  victories  on  earth  are  won.  Yet,  when 
all  is  said,  it  is  not  Lincoln's  patient  wisdom,  his  undaunted 
courage,  his  large  abilities  that  should  really  sink  deepest 
into  our  hearts  and  minds  to-day.  Touch,  if  you  can,  as 
he  touched,  the  " mystic  chords  of  memory."  Think  of  that 
noble  character,  that  unwearied  devotion  to  his  country,  that 
gentle  heart  which  went  out  in  sympathy  to  all  his  people. 
No  one  can  recall  all  this  and  not  feel  that  he  is  lifted  up 


THE  BOSTON  COMMEMORATION  357 

and  made  better.  Remember  him  as  lie  lay  dying,  having 
offered  up  the  last  great  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  his  country. 
Then,  indeed,  you  feel  his  greatness,  and  you  cry  out,  in  the 
words  of  Bunyan,  ' '  So  Valiant-f or-Truth  passed  over,  and  all 
the  trumpets  sounded  for  him  on  the  other  side.'* 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMOKATION 

AT  Cincinnati,  preparations  for  the  celebration  began  as 
far  in  advance  as  October,  1908,  when,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Cincinnati  Schoolmasters'  Club,  it  was  suggested  that  steps 
be  taken  to  properly  observe  the  Lincoln  Centenary.  A  Com 
mittee  was  appointed  by  President  E.  D.  Lyon  to  confer  with 
the  various  civic,  business,  educational,  and  other  bodies  of 
the  city.  At  the  conference  held  to  form  the  plans,  there  were 
present  representatives  from  over  fifty  organizations.  This 
joint  conference  formed  an  organization,  and  adopted  the 
name  "The  Lincoln  Centenary  Memorial  Association/'  and 
under  its  auspices,  with  Mr.  W.  C.  Washburn  as  the  able  Presi 
dent,  the  Centenary  celebration  was  planned  and  carried  out. 
The  funds  necessary  for  carrying  out  the  elaborate  plans  of 
the  Association  were  provided  by  the  organizations  represented 
in  its  membership. 

On  the  Centenary  day,  memorial  exercises  were  held  in  all 
the  schools ;  and  special  exercises  were  held  by  order  of  Arch 
bishop  Moeller  in  the  Catholic  parochial  schools  of  the  Cin 
cinnati  diocese;  all  the  municipal  buildings,  and  many  of  the 
business  houses,  were  fittingly  decorated,  and  the  whole  at 
mosphere  of  the  city  breathed  the  spirit  of  tribute  and  com 
memoration. 

The  principal  meeting  of  the  day  was  held  in  Music  Hall, 
in  the  afternoon.  At  two  o  'clock  members  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  four  hundred  strong,  marched  to  the  hall 
and  took  seats  in  the  section  especially  reserved  for  them. 
Dr.  J.  M.  Withrow,  President  of  the  Board  of  Education,  pre 
sided,  and  a  choir  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  school  children, 
accompanied  by  an  orchestra  of  fifty  pieces,  rendered  the  pa 
triotic  airs  and  War-time  melodies  which  have  come  down  to 
us  from  the  day  of  Lincoln.  One  of  the  special  features  was 
an  ode — "Our  Lincoln" — by  W.  C.  Washburn,  rendered  by 
this  children's  choir,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Joseph 

561 


362  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Surdo,  composer  of  the  music.  The  orator  of  the  day  was 
Bishop  William  Fraser  McDowell,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  Chicago,  who  delivered  to  an  enthusiastic  audience, 
"An  Appreciation  of  Lincoln. " 

In  the  evening,  members  of  the  Loyal  Legion  gave  a  ban 
quet,  with  commemorative  exercises,  in  their  quarters  at  Ma 
sonic  Hall,  where  Judge  Frederick  A.  Henry,  of  Cleveland, 
acted  as  the  speaker  of  the  occasion. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  — AN  APPRECIATION 

BISHOP  WILLIAM   F.    MCDOWELL 

A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  an  American  product.  The 
-VA.  world  itself  has  seen  nothing  finer.  America  has  not 
done  it  twice.  When  one  speaks  of  Lincoln  he  speaks  of 
something  that  only  happened  once.  He  is  one  of  the  sur 
prises  of  history.  No  land  but  America  has  produced  his 
like.  When  he  was  born,  a  hundred  years  ago,  we  had  about 
seven  millions  of  people.  When  he  died,  forty-four  years 
ago,  we  had  thirty-five  millions  of  people.  To-day  we  number 
ninety  millions. 

Those  who  knew  Lincoln  are  few  in  number  now,  but  he 
is  enshrined  in  the  nation's  heart  as  no  one  else  is.  He  died 
at  the  end  of  a  civil  war  whose  passions  were  bitter,  whose 
bitterness  is  not  wholly  gone,  but  we  can  honor  this  leader 
of  that  war  without  awakening  bitterness  anywhere.  His 
name  is  the  symbol  of  peace,  his  character  an  inspiration  to 
union,  his  life  a  perpetual  call  to  charity  and  fraternity. 

That  life  began  in  Kentucky,  continued  in  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  and  flowered  out  in  splendor  at  last  upon  the  nation 
and  the  nations.  His  parents  were  so  poor  that  life  was  all 
they  could  give  their  son;  so  poor  that  they  could  give  the 
world  nothing  except  their  son.  We  praise  him  to-day,  but 
can  not  forget  his  mother,  Nancy  Hanks — 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION          363 

"O   soul   obscure, 

Whose  wings   life  bound, 
And   soft   death    folded 
Under  the  ground; 

"Wilding  lady, 

Still  and  true, 
Who  gave  us  Lincoln 
And  never  knew; 

"To  you  at  last 

Our  praise  and  tears, 
Love  and   a   song 
Through  the  nation's  years! 

"Mother  of  Lincoln, 

Our  tears,  our  praise; 
A  battle-flag 

And  the  victor's  bays!" 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  a  youthful  prodigy.  He  was 
neither  precocious  nor  angelic.  He  had  neither  luck  nor  cir 
cumstance  in  his  favor.  He  had  as  poor  a  chance  as  ever 
greeted  a  boy  under  our  flag.  It  was  not  a  fair  chance.  He 
made  it  turn  out  right.  He  did  not  complain  of  luck,  or  seek 
excuses  for  failure.  He  put  his  foot  on  adversity  and  rose 
to  opportunity.  There  were  not  many  books  in  all  that 
region.  He  read  them  all.  There  was  not  much  going  on. 
He  got  into  contact  with  every  sign  of  life  about  him,  whether 
it  was  Circuit  Court  or  country  store.  He  had  five  school 
teachers,  and  went  to  school  less  than  a  year.  But  all  his 
life  he  had  the  long  arms  of  his  mind  out  in  every  direction 
for  information,  and  "he  never  finished  his  education."  He 
did  not  know  what  many  others  know,  but  he  knew  what 
he  knew,  and  was  not  uneducated.  He  mastered  a  limited 
list  of  books.  The  Son  of  the  Nazareth  carpenter,  like  the 
son  of  the  Kentucky  carpenter,  had  one  small  collection  of 
books,  but  from  them  he  got  a  training  in  literature,  in  his 
tory,  in  insight,  in  patriotism,  and  in  religion.  The  son  of 
the  Kentucky  carpenter  had  a  small  list — JEsop's  "Fables," 


364  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

" Robinson  Crusoe/'  the  "Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana," 
Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Parson  Weems'  "Life  of  Washing 
ton,"  The  Bible,  Shakespeare,  and  a  "History  of  the  United 
States."  And  these  he  read  by  day  and  night,  with  a  slow 
mind  but  a  sure  one — a  mind  he  declared  to  be  like  steel,  hard 
to  scratch  but  retaining  every  scratch  made  upon  it.  And 
from  these  books  he  got  a  training  in  literature,  in  history, 
in  philosophy,  in  patriotism,  and  in  religion.  Such  a  man 
is  educated. 

He  was  not  divinely  gifted  nor  inspired.  He  was  just  an 
American  boy,  born  in  poverty,  in  a  locality  where  life  was 
hard  and  meagre;  and  without  genius  he  rose  to  the  heights 
by  hard  work.  Poverty  did  not  do  it.  Anyhow,  poverty  has 
never  done  it  again.  Ancestry  did  not  do  it.  Hardships 
did  not  do  it.  He  did  not  learn  the  language  of  the  Gettys 
burg  Speech  at  the  country  stores  of  Indiana  or  Illinois. 

"The  little  farm  that  raised  a  man,  was  not  enchanted 
ground."  Circumstances  neither  created  him  nor  hindered 
him  from  working  out  his  life.  He  did  what  any  American 
boy  can  do,  ought  to  do — made  the  most  of  life's  chance. 

He  came  into  the  world  with  a  great  company.  Lowell 
once  declared  that  the  sixteenth  century  was  spendthrift  of 
genius,  that  any  family  might  expect  an  attack  of  greatness 
as  it  looked  for  measles  and  whooping  cough.  "Hamlet," 
Newton's  "Principia,"  Bacon's  "Novum  Organum,"  were  all 
in  danger  of  teething  at  once.  The  single  year  1809  was  prod 
igal  to  the  point  of  recklessness  in  producing  great  men. 
That  year  saw  the  birth  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  William 
E.  Gladstone,  Charles  Darwin,  Mendelssohn,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln.  It  must  have  seemed  a  strange  planet  that  had 
on  it,  at  the  same  time,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Compared  with  the  great  men  of  his  time  or  the  great  men 
of  all  time,  Lincoln  does  not  suffer  or  grow  small.  Washing 
ton  was  rich;  Lincoln  was  poor.  Both  nobly  served  the  Re 
public  and  freedom,  showing  at  two  supreme  crises  how  the 
country  can  be  greatly  served  by  rich  and  poor  alike.  Wash 
ington  piloted  the  young  Republic  through  its  first  days, 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION          365 

Lincoln  through  the  days  of  its  fiercest  testing.  One  pushed 
the  door  of  liberty  ajar,  the  other  opened  it  wide  and  "saved 
the  last  best  hope  of  earth."  One  led  the  colonies  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  other  fulfilled  that  early 
declaration  by  these  immortal  words,  "In  giving  freedom  to 
the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free."  One  set  a  nation 
out  on  its  wide  way  among  nations.  The  other  taught  us 
that  a  nation  worth  creating  is  worth  saving,  and  worth  sav 
ing  all  the  time.  Of  each  it  can  be  said,  "His  palms  never 
itched  for  a  bribe,  his  tongue  never  blistered  with  a  lie." 
Each  came  when  he  was  needed,  and  each  met  the  need  fully. 
Need  alone  does  not  produce  such  men.  Barrenness,  want, 
selfishness,  or  ambition  can  not  bring  to  a  nation  men  like 
these.  "Washington  rose  not  because  our  fathers  needed  a 
soldier  who  could  win  battles,  but  because  the  colonies  needed 
a  man  of  truth  and  tranquillity,  "a  standard  to  which  the 
wise  and  just  should  repair."  Lincoln  arose,  not  because 
our  later  fathers  needed  a  debater,  but  because  they  needed 
a  truth  teller;  not  because  they  needed  a  conqueror,  but  be 
cause  they  needed  one  to  whom  peace  was  a  sacrament  and 
mercy  a  divine  force ;  not  because  they  needed  a  man  who 
could  win  an  election  or  finance  a  war,  but  because  they  did 
sorely  need  in  a  day  of  strife  one  who  could  show  "charity 
for  all  and  malice  to  none." 

Thus  William  of  Orange  arose  in  the  Dutch  Republic, 
Washington  and  Lincoln  in  the  American  Republic,  each  of 
them  "tranquil  in  the  midst  of  raging  billows." 

Measured  by  any  of  the  real  tests,  our  Abraham,  friend  of 
God  like  the  old  Abraham,  appears  to  be  one  of  the  mightiest 
figures  seen  in  a  thousand  years.  He  was  a  real  leader  of 
men — not  a  tyrant  driving  them,  nor  a  weakling  following 
them,  nor  a  visionary  getting  out  of  touch  with  them.  He 
perfectly  knew  the  average  mind  and  the  strong  mind.  He 
knew  how  valuable  were  men  like  Seward,  and  Stanton,  and 
Chase,  and  many  others  who  did  not  agree  with  him.  Many 
strong  men  abused  him,  many  tried  to  override  him.  He 
was  silent  under  abuse  and  always  master  of  his  own  soul  and 
his  own  policies.  Men  said  his  clothes  did  not  fit  him,  that 


366  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  his  hands,  but  they  learned 
at  last  that  his  mind  fitted  him  perfectly,  and  he  used  his 
hands  for  his  supreme  tasks. 

We  are  obliged  to  go  back  to  the  Bible  for  the  words  to 
describe  him,  "He  was  a  shepherd  who  had  led  his  flock  ac 
cording  to  the  integrity  of  his  heart,  and  guided  them  by  the 
skilfulness  of  his  hands/'  He  kept  in  close  touch  with  the 
common  people,  and  kept  ahead  of  them.  He  kept  in  touch 
and  moved  on.  He  used  all  the  strong  men  in  all  parties, 
and  was  used  by  none  of  them.  He  has  been  called  by  one 
biographer,  "The  Master  of  Men."  But  never  was  any  man 
less  of  a  tyrant.  His  mastery  was  due  to  that  gentleness 
which  made  him  great.  He  could  neither  be  a  tyrant  nor  a 
tool,  a  slave  driver  nor  a  slave.  He  led,  not  because  he  wanted 
to  be  served,  but  because  he  wanted  to  serve.  His  secrets 
were  few  because  his  purposes  were  great.  Without  arro 
gance,  without  vanity,  with  eternal  charity,  and  without 
malice,  as  God  gave  him  to  see  the  right,  he  held  on  his  steady 
way.  Men  were  impatient;  his  Cabinet  was  vexed;  he  was 
assailed  by  the  radicals  and  by  his  compromisers ;  he  endured 
the  storms  of  ridicule,  of  slander,  of  scorn;  insult  and  ac 
cusation  were  heaped  upon  him  like  a  mountain;  news  from 
the  front  broke  his  heart,  scramble  for  spoils  cursed  his  days; 
he  lived  through  passion  and  prejudice,  relieving  his  mel 
ancholy  soul  with  stories  that  brought  more  criticism,  and 
at  last  "he  heard  the  hisses  turn  to  cheers"  and  stood  alone 
in  a  glory  no  man  could  endure. 

He  had  a  genius  for  stating  eternal  matters  in  such  a  way 
that  men  felt  as  under  a  call  to  battle.  Away  yonder  on 
the  plains  of  Palestine,  the  saddest  man  of  history  declared 
that  a  "house  divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand."  Long 
afterward,  on  the  plains  of  Illinois,  this  Lincoln  reached  back 
to  that  other's  word  and  said:  "A  house  divided  against 
itself  can  not  stand.  I  believe  this  government  can  not  per 
manently  endure  half  slave  and  half  free."  Friends  urged 
him  not  to  say  it.  It  was  too  clear,  too  plain  and  unmis 
takable.  It  was  not  good  politics  to  say  it.  But  Lincoln 
replied,  "It  is  true,  and  I  will  deliver  it  as  written."  There 


Copyright,  Francis  Tandy  Company,  A'ew>  York 


The  Peterson  House,  in  which  Lincoln  Died,  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION          367 

never  was  any  answer  to  it.  It  became  a  standard  to  which 
men  rallied.  And  truth  appeared  the  best  politics.  Mr.  In- 
gersoll  calls  this  "a  victorious  truth  whose  utterance  made 
Lincoln  the  foremost  man  in  the  Republic."  That  sentence 
stated  the  clear  principle.  On  that  he  will  not  compromise, 
but  on  all  the  minor  matters  he  will  be  yielding  and  con 
ciliatory — and  always  go  ahead. 

He  summarized  the  Dred  Scott  decision  in  the  fierce  words, 
1 1  If  any  one  man  choose  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall 
be  allowed  to  object!"  " The  central  idea  of  secession  is  the 
essence  of  anarchy,"  was  another  rifle  shot  in  his  First  In 
augural. 

At  no  time  did  he  satisfy  the  extremists  on  either  side. 
Many  times  he  was  thought  to  be  drifting  and  without  a 
policy.  He  was  not  omniscient.  Only  a  few  men  are.  But 
it  is  an  unspeakable  mercy  that  this  man  was  willing  to  learn 
from  current  events,  to  use  his  discretion  according  to  cir 
cumstances  actually  existing ;  that  the  only  consistency  he  had 
was  the  consistency  of  principle,  and  he  would  find  his  goal 
by  any  path  he  could.  And  his  own  eye  was  so  single  that  at 
last  the  whole  body  was  full  of  light. 

In  two  crucial  respects  he  stands  nearly  alone — in  his 
power  to  keep  still,  and  his  power  to  speak.  We  are  a  speak 
ing  people.  Good  talkers  are  always  at  a  premium  with  us. 
Nowhere  else  is  the  right  word  more  effective  than  in  a 
Republic.  And  Lincoln  had  the  national  gift,  as  we  shall 
see.  But  in  certain  supreme  crises  the  final  test  is  not  only 
what  a  man  says,  but  what  he  refrains  from  saying. 

A  civil  war  does  not  develop  careful  and  dainty  speech. 
Men — and  women — on  both  sides  incline  to  invective  and 
vitriol.  Our  Abolitionists  knew  a  lot  of  hard  words.  The 
South  did  not  measure  its  terms  by  the  rule  of  gentleness. 
When  there  was  nothing  else  men  could  do,  they  pitched  into 
Lincoln.  Men  here,  who  were  boys  then,  heard  him  called 
by  all  the  names  that  were  bad.  I  have  always  been  wanting 
to  atone  to  him  for  the  names  I  heard  him  called  in  my 
youth. 

Not  only  so,  but  the  North  and  the  South  were  abusing 


368  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

each  other.  "Rebel"  and  "traitor"  were  about  the  gentlest 
terms  we  used.  And  it  was  a  talking  time.  But  in  all  that 
flood  of  acrimonious  speech,  not  one  word  of  malice  escaped 
his  lips.  He  was  reviled  and  slandered,  but  "as  a  sheep 
before  her  shearer  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth." 
Other  men  stung  and  goaded  him,  but  he  replied  only  in 
some  quaint  story  that  acted  like  oil  where  others  used  acids. 
And  in  all  the  forty-four  years  since  "the  lilacs  bloomed" 
as  he  died,  we  have  not  had  to  take  back  one  word  of  bitter 
ness  toward  the  South,  or  pull  out  one  sentence  from  fes 
tering  sore.  He  won  a  victory  over  the  South,  and  is  to-day 
our  strongest  appeal  to  the  South.  "His  entire  administra 
tion  was  one  protracted  magnanimity.  He  was  as  great  in 
his  forbearance  as  in  his  performances." 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  his  power  to  speak?  His  silence 
and  his  speech  alike  were  golden.  Men  were  scared  when 
he  began  the  debates  with  Douglas,  for  Douglas  was  indeed 
a  "Little  Giant."  When  the  debates  were  over,  the  air  was 
cleared  for  a  thousand  years.  Douglas  won  the  senatorship, 
but  Lincoln  won  the  shining  victory  for  truth.  An  old  man 
said,  "You  always  felt  that  Abe  was  right."  "I  am  not 
bound  to  win,"  he  said,  "but  I  am  bound  to  be  true."  So 
"he  did  not  say  the  thing  which  was  best  for  that  day's  de 
bate,  but  the  thing  that  would  stand  the  test  of  time  and 
square  itself  with  eternal  justice." 

Gladstone,  born  the  same  year  as  Lincoln,  was  the  speaking 
marvel  of  England  during  many  years.  British  oratory  has 
hardly  ever  been  richer  or  nobler  than  his.  He  was  educated 
at  Oxford.  All  that  culture  could  do  had  been  done  for  him ; 
but  his  supporters  declare  that  he  has  left  not  a  single  mas 
terpiece  of  English,  and  hardly  one  great  phrase  that  clings 
to  the  memory  of  men.  Lincoln  has  given  a  new  meaning 
to  oratory  and  a  new  dignity  to  public  speech.  His  utter 
ances  have  the  quality  of  finality.  George  William  Curtis 
declares  that  there  are  three  supreme  speeches  in  our  history : 
"The  speech  of  Patrick  Henry  at  Williamsburg,  of  Wendell 
Phillips  in  Faneuil  Hall,  of  Abraham  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg 
— three,  and  there  is  no  fourth."  I  think  there  was  a  fourth 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION          369 

— Lincoln's  Second  Inaugural.  He  gave  a  new  and  embar 
rassing  definition  to  the  words  " principal  address."  At 
Gettysburg,  Edward  Everett  spoke  magnificently  through 
many  thousand  noble  words — a  masterly  oration.  Lincoln 
spoke  three  minutes,  two  hundred  and  fifty  words,  and  this  is 
the  principal  address  of  that  day  or  many  days.  The  Second 
Inaugural  is  only  seven  hundred  and  fifty  words  in  length, 
but  while  liberty  lasts,  while  charity  survives  among  men, 
while  patriotism  lives  under  any  flag,  these  few  words  will 
be  on  men's  lips  like  prophecy,  psalm  or  gospel.  How  did 
this  man,  born  in  poverty,  reared  in  poverty,  untrained  in 
any  schools,  come  to  do  this  miracle?  It  is  not  a  trick  of 
expression,  it  is  the  miracle  of  supreme  truth,  supremely 
stated.  "Back  of  the  orator  is  the  man."  Behind  the  match 
less  President  is  the  matchless  personality. 

He  had  the  faith  that  saves,  without  the  bigotry  that 
blights.  He  had  insight  like  a  prophet's,  a  sense  of  the  Al 
mighty  Person  like  a  mystic's;  no  theology,  but  the  life  of 
the  spirit;  an  unwavering  belief  in  the  Providence  that  was 
often  silent  and  perplexing;  moral  courage  born  of  moral 
conviction;  a  sense  that  right  is  right,  since  God  is  God; 
a  devotion  that  planted  a  cross  in  his  heart;  a  trust  that 
kept  his  hands  clean  and  his  heart  pure.  When  he  called 
the  Cabinet  to  hear  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  they 
found  him  reading  a  chapter  from  Artemus  Ward.  He  said, 
* 1 1  made  the  promise  to  myself  and  to  my  Maker  that  I  would 
do  this.  I  do  not  wish  your  advice  about  the  main  matter, 
for  that  I  have  determined  for  myself" — and  read  the  im 
mortal  document  which  freed  the  slave.  His  sense  of  des 
tiny  was  not  fatalism,  but  faith.  He  thought  of  himself  and 
the  nation  as  in  the  guiding  care  of  God.  He  thought  more 
of  his  duties  than  of  his  rights,  more  of  his  burdens  than  of 
his  honors.  He  incarnated  the  simplest  and  greatest  virtues. 
He  was  above  all  a  man  of  truth.  "I  am  nothing,  truth  is 
everything."  His  life  did  not  belie  the  language  of  his  lips. 
"Whatever  appears  to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do  it."  And  he 
put  the  loftiest  at  the  service  of  the  lowliest. 

I  know  what  I  am  saying,  and  must  not  be  betrayed  into 


370  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

extravagance,  but  I  can  not  refrain  from  saying,  that  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  more  than  of  any  merely  human  man  of 
history,  are  certain  inspired  words  true;  to  him,  more  than 
any  other  save  One,  are  they  to  be  applied:  "He  was  a  man 
of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. ' '  "  We  hid,  as  it  were, 
our  faces  from  him. ' '  "He  trod  the  winepress  alone. ' '  " The 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him."  "He  saved  others, 
himself  he  could  not  save."  "The  common  people  heard 
him  gladly."  "The  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulders. 
His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful" — and,  after  war — "the 
Prince  of  Peace." 

He  was  murdered  on  Good  Friday,  and,  as  when  William  of 
Orange  was  slain,  "the  little  children  wept  in  the  streets." 

It  is  not  for  us  to  mourn  that  we  have  lost  Lincoln,  for  he 
is  our  finest  inspiration  and  "gentlest  memory"  forever.  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  glad  that  we  have  had  and  still  have 
him.  The  mention  of  his  name  makes  poverty  look  less  odious 
and  depressing.  The  story  of  his  life  is  enough  to  make  any 
youth  under  the  flag  put  his  feet  upon  difficulties  and  hard 
ships  in  a  royal  purpose  to  rise  above  them  all.  The  picture 
of  his  character  should  call  us  again  to  the  love  and  practice 
of  those  simple,  majestic  virtues  of  which  Lincoln  was  the 
living  definition.  A  thousand  things  we  can  live  without, 
but  we  cannot  live  without  truth  and  honesty,  courage  and 
kindness,  self-denial  and  patriotism,  faith  and  charity,  liberty 
and  law.  In  the  face  of  an  old  conservatism  and  a  dangerous 
radicalism  we  need  again  the  truth  and  independence  of 
this  tall  rail-splitter,  leader  of  the  sons  of  men.  In  the  face 
of  greed  and  graft  we  need  to  learn  again  that  a  good  name 
like  Lincoln's  is  infinitely  better  than  any  riches,  however 
great. 

Once  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  War,  after  many  defeats 
for  our  armies,  one  of  our  poets  addressed  Lincoln  in  a 
poem  called,  "Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man."  This 
still  is  America's  call  to  manhood  and  youth.  "The  youth 
of  a  nation  are  the  trustees  of  posterity."  "It  is  a  glorious 
thing  to  see  a  nation  saved  by  its  youth."  It  is  our  high 
chance  to  show  whence  we  have  sprung;  ours  to  add  to  Lin- 


THE  CINCINNATI  COMMEMORATION          371 

coin's  glory  by  carrying  his  work  forward  to  perfection; 
ours  to  make  a  new  Republic  in  which  all  men  shall  have 
life's  fair  chance;  a  Republic  in  which  no  one  shall  be  a 
tyrant  and  no  one  a  slave ;  a  Republic  in  which  poverty  shall 
be  full  of  hope  and  wealth  full  of  modesty;  a  Republic  in 
which  the  color  of  the  skin  shall  not  make  men  forget  the 
color  of  the  blood;  a  Republic  which  shall  not  be  a  white 
man's  land  or  a  black  man's  land  but  all  men's  home;  a 
Republic  in  which  there  is  always  a  new  birth  of  freedom; 
a  Republic  true  to  the  son  of  Kentucky  grown  large,  true 
to  the  undivided  house,  true  to  both  Inaugurals,  true  to 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  true  to  the  Gettysburg  Ad 
dress,  true  to  Abraham  Lincoln — finest  product  of  a  new 
nation,  foremost  citizen  of  the  world,  friend  of  God,  liberator 
of  humanity,  tallest  white  angel  of  a  thousand  years ! 


THE  EOCHESTEE  COMMEMOEATION 


THE  ROCHESTER  COMMEMORATION 

THKOUGHOUT  the  State  of  New  York  celebrations  were 
held  in  the  various  cities,  but  one  which  attracted  wide 
spread  attention  was  that  at  Rochester,  where  His  Excellency, 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Hughes,  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
was  the  speaker  of  the  occasion. 


LINCOLN:     THE  TRUE  AMERICAN 

HON.   CHARLES  EVANS   HUGHES 

ON  the  twenty-third  day  of  August,  1864,  Abraham  Lin 
coln,    President   of   the   United    States,    penned   these 
words,  which  he  laid  aside  for  future  reference,  "This  morn 
ing,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceedingly  probable 
that  this  administration  will  not  be  reflected. ' ' 

It  was  within  eight  months  of  the  close  of  a  career  which 
has  made  his  memory  a  priceless  treasure  of  the  nation.  He 
had  risen  from  the  humblest  conditions  to  the  highest  place 
of  influence  and  power.  For  three  years  and  a  half  he  had 
borne  the  awful  burdens  of  leadership  in  the  struggle  to 
preserve  the  Union.  He  had  proclaimed  the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves,  and  delivered  the  immortal  Address  at  Gettys 
burg.  The  logic  of  events  had  demanded  his  renomination 
for  the  presidency,  and  as  yet  the  candidate  of  the  opposing 
party  had  not  been  named.  Yet  in  those  dark  days  of  the 
Summer  of  1864,  it  seemed  that  he  would  be  buried  under 
an  avalanche  of  hostile  criticism.  He  was  misconstrued, 
maligned,  and  reviled.  He  was  charged  both  with  weakness 
and  with  usurpation.  It  was  his  painful  lot  to  bear  the 
heavy  assault,  not  simply  of  the  enemies  of  his  armies  or 
their  sympathizers,  but  of  sincere  and  high-minded  men  who 
should  have  been  his  stoutest  supporters.  He  later  described 

375 


376  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

those  days  to  his  Cabinet  as  a  time  "when  as  yet  we  had  no 
adversary  and  seemed  to  have  no  friends."  The  most  astute 
advisers  told  him  that  his  reelection  was  an  impossibility, 
and  it  appeared  as  if  the  American  people  were  to  write  the 
word  "failure"  over  the  administration  which  gives  to  the 
day  we  now  celebrate  its  undying  significance. 

It  was  precisely  at  that  hour  of  uncertainty  and  fore 
boding,  that  Lincoln  displayed  the  finest  qualities  of  his 
character.  Unshaken  in  conviction,  secure  in  the  peace  of  an 
undisturbed  conscience,  he  looked  into  the  future  with  a 
keen  and  honest  eye,  and  resolved  that  even  were  he  sub 
jected  to  humiliation  and  defeat,  even  were  he  scorned  and 
thrust  aside  by  those  for  whom  he  had  so  severely  labored, 
yet,  if  he  could,  he  would  still  save  the  Union.  In  the  pri 
vate  memorandum  of  that  August  day,  the  opening  words  of 
which  I  have  already  quoted,  he  thus  registered  this  deter 
mination,  "Then  it  will  be  my  duty  to  so  cooperate  with  the 
President-elect  as  to  save  the  Union  between  the  election 
and  the  inauguration ;  as  he  will  have  secured  his  election  on 
such  grounds  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  afterwards." 

This  is  the  Lincoln  whom  we  honor  to-day! — not  the  Com 
mander-in-chief  of  a  victorious  army;  not  the  triumphant 
political  leader;  not  the  master  of  debate,  or  the  inspired 
orator,  but  the  hero  of  patriotic  self-sacrifice,  the  great-souled 
servant  of  the  people. 

The  story  of  Lincoln's  rise  will  ever  be  the  finest  inspira 
tion  of  American  youth.  The  surroundings  of  his  early  life 
were  not  only  obscure,  but  depressing  and  disheartening. 
It  was  not  simply  that  he  was  the  child  of  poverty — that 
may  be  a  blessing.  The  real  deprivation  was  not  in  the 
rudeness  of  the  home  or  in  the  lowliness  of  the  estate,  but  in 
the  lack  of  those  incentives  to  endeavor,  and  stimuli  to  am 
bition,  which  are  the  heritage  of  most  of  our  American  boys. 

Lincoln  was  not  without  opportunity.  The  event  proves 
that.  And  the  glory  of  his  career  is  that  he  so  nobly  used 
each  opportunity  that  he  had,  and  made  it  provide  another. 
The  marvel  is  that  he  was  not  a~ victim  to  inertia;  and  that, 
in  such  conditions,  may  be  found  such  talent  and  such  dis- 


THE  ROCHESTER  COMMEMORATION  377 

position  to  use  it.  With  each  review  of  his  career  we  renew 
our  confidence  in  humanity  and  pledge  our  faith,  not  to 
circumstance  or  station,  but  to  the  divine  fire  of  reason,  and 
truth,  and  conscience,  constantly  flaming  out  in  unsuspected 
places — which  the  Power  that  makes  for  righteousness  and 
progress  will  not  permit  to  be  quenched. 

Lincoln  performed  each  task  as  well  as  he  knew.  As  a 
boy  he  learned  to  write,  and  he  did  it  so  well  that  he  became 
the  favored  scribe  of  an  unlettered  community.  He  had 
access  to  but  few  books,  but  instead  of  neglecting  these  be 
cause  they  were  few,  he  mastered  them,  and  he  became  rich 
in  the  strength  of  their  wisdom.  He  was  willing  to  give  his 
day's  labor  to  secure  a  coveted  "Life  of  Washington."  He 
had  little  schooling  and  none  of  the  advantages  of  academy 
or  college.  But  he  seized  what  was  within  his  reach,  and 
the  fact  that  for  a  time  he  was  denied,  made  his  pursuit  the 
more  eager.  And  so  he  was  constantly  growing  and  develop 
ing,  with  a  sense  of  power  which  comes  by  the  exercise  of 
the  will  in  constant  achievement.  That  part  of  our  educa 
tional  methods  is  really  worth  while  which  develops  the  sense 
of  intellectual  conquest,  and  Lincoln,  from  his  early  years, 
despite  his  apparent  disadvantages,  had  a  fine  curriculum 
of  victories. 

He  was  nourished  in  patriotism,  learning  at  the  feet  of 
Washington.  As  soon  as  there  was  opportunity  he  enlisted, 
and  reenlisted,  to  protect  the  safety  of  the  State,  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War.  When  he  returned,  he  went  into  politics. 

According  to  the  practice  of  the  time,  Lincoln  became  a 
candidate  for  the  Assembly  by  simply  announcing  his  condi- 
dacy  and  declaring  his  principles.  He  was  defeated  in  his 
first  campaign,  and,  turning  to  the  simple  activities  of  a 
village  life,  he  devoted  himself  more  earnestly  than  ever 
to  the  increase  of  his  store  of  knowledge.  He  had  acquired 
no  little  information  as  to  men  and  affairs;  and  his  earlier 
trips,  by  boat  to  New  Orleans,  and  his  experiences  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War,  had  widened  his  horizon.  In  1854,  Lin 
coln  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature,  and  was 
elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  was  reflected  in  1836,  1838, 


378  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  again  in  1840.  Meanwhile  he  had  been  encouraged  to 
study  law,  and  in  1836  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  great 
adversary,  Douglas,  said  of  him,  ''Lincoln  is  one  of  those 
peculiar  men  who  perform  with  admirable  skill  everything 
they  undertake."  But  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  bar. 
His  keenness  and  analytical  precision,  his  good  humor  and 
democratic  ease,  his  passion  for  study,  and  his  rugged  hon 
esty,  equipped  him  for  high  place  in  a  profession  whose  best 
prizes  are  not  won  by  those  who  are  mere  masters  of  chicane. 

It  is  said  that  he  left  the  Legislature  in  1840  with  the 
reputation  of  being  "the  ablest  man  in  it,  the  recognized 
leader  of  his  party  in  the  House  and  in  his  State,"  and 
"with  a  reputation  for  honesty  and  integrity  which  not  even 
the  bitterest  of  his  political  opponents  had  the  hardihood  to 
asperse."  He  rose  rapidly  at  the  bar  and  particularly  ex 
celled  in  the  arts  of  advocacy.  Meanwhile  he  was  not  with 
out  his  disappointments.  As  he  failed  in  his  first  candidacy 
for  the  State  Assembly,  he  also  failed  in  his  first  candidacy 
for  Congress,  but  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1846.  Retiring 
after  his  first  term,  he  devoted  himself  to  his  legal  practice. 
But  he  was  equipped  and  destined  for  political  activity. 

The  discussion  of  the  great  questions  which  related  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  furnished  the  opportunity,  and  soon  he 
became  the  protagonist  in  the  debate  which  challenged  the 
attention  of  the  country  and  marked  him  as  a  national 
leader.  His  nomination  and  election  to  the  presidency  were 
the  natural  result  of  the  contest  in  which,  although  Douglas 
through  the  apportionment  of  districts  won  his  election  to 
the  Senate,  Lincoln  had  the  best  of  the  argument,  and  the 
prestige  of  popular  victory.  Thus  he  was  elected  not  to  hon 
ors,  but  to  burdens.  And  from  his  accession  to  the  highest 
place  in  the  people's  gift,  to  the  time  when  he  laid  down  his 
life  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  union — at  last  one 
and  inseparable — he  bore  a  weight  of  care  and  responsibility 
greater  than  that  borne  by  any  other  President,  and  for  which 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  parallel  in  history. 

There  is  no  day  so  eloquent  to  me  as  the  day  on  which  we 
commemorate  the  birth  of  Lincoln.  In  him  we  recognize  the 


THE  ROCHESTER  COMMEMORATION          379 

representative  of  those  qualities  which  distinguish  American 
character  and  are  the  sources  of  our  national  power.  Lincoln 
is  the  true  American. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  an  acute  man.  But  we  erect  no 
monuments  to  shrewdness.  We  set  aside  no  days  for  the 
commemoration  of  mere  American  smartness.  Skill  in  manip 
ulation,  acuteness  in  dealing  for  selfish  purposes,  may  win 
their  temporary  victories.  But  the  people  reserve  their 
memorials  for  the  ability  that  finds  its  highest  display  in 
unselfish  devotion  to  the  public  good. 

Lincoln  was  an  expert  logician.  He  brought  to  bear  upon 
his  opponents  the  batteries  of  remorseless  logic.  But  he 
thought  honestly  and  scorned  the  tricks  of  sophistry.  He 
had  a  profound  confidence  in  the  reasoning  judgment  of  the 
American  people.  He  disdained  all  efforts  to  capture  the 
populace  by  other  means,  or  to  employ  his  great  talents  in 
other  than  fair  disputation.  He  treated  opposing  arguments 
with  an  extraordinary  power  of  analysis.  He  eviscerated 
the  subject  of  discussion  and  laid  it  bare.  He  presented  not 
abuse,  not  appeal  to  the  emotions  of  the  multitude,  but  cogent 
reasoning,  and  thus  appeared  before  the  American  people 
representing  their  ideal  of  straightforward,  honest  repre 
sentation  of  the  truth,  applicable  to  their  crisis.  Loyalty 
was  commanded  because  reason  exerted  its  sway.  Whenever 
you  are  tempted  to  think  in  a  discouraging  manner  of  the 
future  of  the  American  Republic,  you  should  read  the  annals 
of  those  times  when  the  Union  itself  was  in  the  balance,  and 
you  should  realize  how  inevitable  is  the  final  response  of 
the  American  people  to  the  demands  of  reason. 

Lincoln  was  a  man  of  principle.  Said  he  on  one  occasion, 
"I  have  no  sentiments  except  those  which  I  have  derived 
from  the  study  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence."  He 
ever  sought  for  the  foundation  principle,  and  built  upon 
it  with  sure  confidence  that  the  house  which  was  founded 
upon  the  rock  could  not  be  destroyed  by  the  storm.  He  was 
profoundly  an  apostle  of  liberty,  but  for  liberty  under  the 
law,  developed  and  applied  in  accordance  with  constitutional 
principle.  Rarely  has  the  doctrine  of  the  relation  of  the 


S80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Nation  to  the  States,  and  of  the  government  to  the  individual 
been  more  lucidly  expounded  than  in  those  simple  sentences 
in  which  he  said,  "The  Nation  must  control  whatever  con 
cerns  the  Nation.  The  State,  or  any  minor  political  com 
munity,  must  control  whatever  exclusively  concerns  it.  The 
individual  shall  control  whatever  exclusively  concerns  him. 
That  is  really  popular  sovereignty/*  But  he  was  a  progres 
sive  man.  He  was  sensitive  to  the  demands  of  his  day. 
Three  years,  I  believe,  after  the  outbreak  of  the  War,  he  said, 
"I  have  not  controlled  events,  and  I  confess  events  have  con 
trolled  me,  and  after  three  years  we  find  ourselves  in  a  sit 
uation  which  neither  party,  and  no  man,  devised  or  expected." 
He  was  a  man  who  met  each  demand  as  it  arose — to  the  rad 
icals  he  was  too  conservative;  to  the  conservatives  he  was 
too  radical.  Few  men  have  been  so  severely  criticised  and 
so  mercilessly  lampooned.  But  while  he  sought  to  deal  with 
each  situation  as  he  found  it,  he  dealt  with  it  as  illumined 
by  the  principles  which  were  the  light  to  his  path  and  the 
guide  to  his  feet. 

Lincoln  was  a  man  of  poise.  Beset  with  difficulties  and 
bowed  with  grief,  frequently  without  the  sustaining  encour 
agement  even  of  those  who  were  close  to  him  in  his  official 
family,  he  was  still  able  to  exercise  the  judgment  which  his 
tory  commends,  and  display  the  extraordinary  talent  for 
analyzing  perplexing  situations  which  is  the  marvel  of  our 
later  day. 

Lincoln  was  a  humble  man,  unpretentious,  and  genuinely 
democratic.  Honors  did  not  change  him  and  pride  could  not 
corrupt  him.  He  was  a  stranger  to  affectation.  He  was  a 
humane  man,  a  man  of  emotion  well  controlled;  a  man 
of  sentiment  and  deep  feeling.  No  one  who  has  lived 
among  us  has  been  so  much  a  brother  to  every  man,  however 
lowly  born  or  unfortunately  circumstanced.  He  was  a  lowly 
man  who  never  asserted  himself  as  superior  to  his  fellows. 
Yet  he  could  rise  in  the  dignity  of  his  manhood  to  a  majesty 
that  has  not  been  surpassed  by  any  ruler  of  any  people 
under  any  form  of  government.  When  Lee  sent  to  Grant 
suggesting  an  interchange  of  views,  and  the  communication 


THE  ROCHESTER  COMMEMORATION  381 

was  forwarded  by  Grant  to  the  President,  the  President  in 
stantly  wrote  the  following  instructions  for  Secretary  Stanton 
to  transmit  to  General  Grant : 

"The  President  directs  me  to  say  that  he  wishes  you  to  have  no 
conference  with  General  Lee  unless  it  be  for  capitulation  of  General 
Lee's  army,  or  on  some  minor  or  purely  military  matter.  He  instructs 
me  to  say  that  you  are  not  to  decide,  discuss,  or  confer  upon  any 
political  questions.  Such  questions  the  President  holds  in  his  own 
hands,  and  will  submit  them  to  no  military  conferences  or  conventions. 
Meanwhile  you  are  to  press  to  the  utmost  your  military  advantages." 

Thus  did  the  simple  democratic  ruler  of  a  free  people  assume 
the  responsibilities,  and  assert  the  prerogatives,  of  his  high 
office.  It  was  not  a  desire  to  claim  any  superiority  which 
he  felt  over  his  brother  man ;  it  was  simply,  to  him,  the  dis 
charge  of  duty  in  a  supreme  crisis,  and  the  assumption  be 
fore  the  American  people  of  a  responsibility  which  he  dared 
not  shirk,  and  of  which  his  intellectual  strength  and  sturdy 
conscience  made  him  unafraid. 

Despite  the  vicissitudes  of  the  stormy  period  in  which  he 
played  so  important  a  part,  he  retained  his  confidence  in  the 
people.  "Why"  he  said,  "should  we  not  have  patient  con 
fidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  American  people?" 
Why  not,  indeed!  They  have  abundant  opportunities  for 
education.  If  we  can  only  feel  as  Lincoln  felt,  and  derive 
our  political  sentiments  from  a  study  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  proceed  as  Lincoln  did  with  inexorable 
logic  and  high  purpose  to  the  consideration  of  every  exi 
gency,  there  can  be  no  question  but  that  each  problem  will 
be  solved,  that  every  decade  of  American  history  will  wit 
ness  a  fresh  advance,  and  that  the  prosperity  of  the  fu 
ture  will  far  transcend  anything  that  we  have  realized  in  the 
past. 

The  strength  of  the  nation  lies  in  the  influence  of  the  high 
est  ideals  of  character.  We  cannot  become  sordid  or  base 
so  long  as  we  cherish  the  memory  of  Washington  who  won 
our  liberties,  and  of  Lincoln  who  preserved  them.  But  we 
must  see  these  men  in  a  true  perspective,  not  as  demigods, 
splendid  with  power  and  victory,  but  as  men,  vigorous  and 


382  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

alert,  struggling  against  tremendous  odds,  perplexed  with 
difficulties,  embarrassed  by  conflicting  voices,  assailed  by 
calumny,  but  still  able  unflinchingly  to  adhere  to  profound 
conviction,  steadfastly  to  pursue  great  aims,  and  in  their 
self -sacrificing  devotion  to  display  those  virtues  of  character 
which  may  inspire  all  of  us  in  our  lesser  spheres  to  the  noble 
conduct  of  our  lives.  And  in  commemorating  their  achieve 
ments  and  inculcating  the  lessons  of  their  efforts,  we  may 
conserve  those  moral  resources  without  which  free  institu 
tions  would  become  a  mockery. 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMOEATION 

AT  Madison,  Wisconsin,  the  first  important  commemoration 
of  the  day  consisted  of  the  exercises  held  in  the  special 
session  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Here,  a 
large  audience  filled  all  available  places  on  the  floor  of  the 
Assembly  hall,  and  overflowed  the  three  visitors'  galleries. 
The  hall  and  galleries  were  richly  decorated  with  the  national 
colors.  Governor  James  0.  Davidson  presided,  and  the  speak 
ers  were  Senator  E.  P.  Fairchild,  of  Milwaukee,  and  Professor 
John  Charles  Freeman,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

School  exercises  were  held  in  all  the  districts  of  the  city, 
one  notable  one  being  that  at  the  Lincoln  School,  where  the 
pupils  presented  to  the  school  a  brass  memorial  tablet  of  the 
Gettysburg  speech — the  unveiling  of  the  tablet  being  one  of 
the  features  of  the  day's  programme.  Another  presentation  to 
this  school — made  by  W.  W.  Warner — was  an  autograph  letter 
from  Lincoln  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  who  had  seven  sons  in  the  War. 
The  exercises  at  the  school  were  followed  by  a  general  recep 
tion  to  the  public,  under  the  management  of  the  teachers  of  the 
school  and  the  educational  department  of  the  Woman's  Club. 

Later  in  the  day,  five  thousand  students  and  members  of  the 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  gathered  in  the  gym 
nasium  of  the  University,  there  to  hear  the  announcement  by 
President  Van  Hise,  that  to  the  University  of  Wisconsin  had 
been  granted  the  privilege  of  securing  the  only  replica  of  the 
heroic  bronze  statue  of  Lincoln,  by  Adolph  Alexander  Wein 
man,  being  erected  by  the  United  States  and  the  State  of  Ken 
tucky,  jointly,  at  Lincoln's  birthplace,  Hodgenville,  Kentucky. 
This  replica  was  secured  for,  and  presented  to,  the  University 
by  Mr.  Thomas  E.  Brittingham,  of  Madison,  Wisconsin. 

The  address  of  the  day  was  delivered  by  the  Eev.  Jenkin 
Lloyd  Jones,  the  well-known  Lincoln  enthusiast  and  authority, 
head  of  Lincoln  Center,  Chicago. 
2s  385 


THE   GREAT   STONE   FACE 

PRESIDENT   C.   E.   VAN   HISE 

THROUGH  the  cooperation  of  the  United  States  and  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  a  heroic  bronze  statue  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  to  be  unveiled  at  his  birthplace,  Hodgenville,  Ken 
tucky,  on  Decoration  Day  of  this  year.  This  statue  is  by 
Mr.  Adolph  A.  Weinman,  a  pupil  of  Saint-Gaudens.  Photo 
graphs  of  the  statue  show  that  this  sculptor  is  a  man  of  the 
first  rank;  that  he  has  truly  caught  the  spirit  of  his  great 
master.  Requests  for  replicas  have  come  to  the  Commission 
that  has  the  Lincoln  statue  in  charge,  from  Providence,  Phil 
adelphia,  Champaign,  St.  Louis,  Lincoln,  Seattle,  and,  on 
behalf  of  Oshkosh,  from  Mr.  Hicks,  United  States  Ambassa 
dor  to  Chile. 

After  much  discussion,  the  commissioners  voted  to  permit 
one  full-sized  replica  of  the  statue  to  be  cast,  provided  it 
was  placed  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  This  decision 
came  in  consequence  of  the  great  interest  in  the  University 
of  Richard  Lloyd  Jones,  one  of  the  commissioners,  associate 
editor  of  "Collier's  Weekly,"  alumnus  of  the  University,  and 
son  of  the  speaker  of  to-day,  the  Reverend  Jenkin  Lloyd 
Jones.  When  the  chance  to  secure  the  Lincoln  replica  for  the 
University  came,  the  question  at  once  arose  as  to  the  source 
of  the  necessary  funds.  The  situation  was  placed  before 
Mr.  Thomas  E.  Brittingham,  of  this  city.  With  largeness  of 
view  he  appreciated  the  fortunate  opportunity  which  had 
come  to  him  to  serve  the  University  and  the  State,  and  gladly 
agreed  to  furnish  the  required  funds.  Upon  behalf  of  the 
Regents,  the  Faculty,  the  students,  and  the  people,  I  wish  from 
my  heart  to  thank  Mr.  Brittingham  for  his  generosity. 

The  statue  of  Lincoln  will  be  unveiled  during  the  coming 

386 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  387 

Commencement.  It  will  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  future 
Court  of  Honor  of  the  University,  a  short  distance  in  front  of 
University  Hall,  facing  the  east. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  a  lad  named  Ernest,  created  by 
Hawthorne's  imagination,  growing  up  in  a  village  set  in  a 
broad  and  deep  valley,  had  his  attention  called  by  his  mother 
to  the  noble  lineaments  of  a  Great  Stone  Face  on  a  mighty 
buttress  of  one  of  the  surrounding  mountains.  Among  the 
people  there  was  a  tradition  that  some  time  a  native  of  the 
valley  would  appear  with  a  face  like  the  gigantic  one  in  stone. 
The  growing  boy  continued  his  life  among  the  villagers,  and 
each  morning  he  looked  out  upon  the  strong  and  benignant 
Great  Stone  Face  and  hoped  that  he  might  some  day  see  the 
man  who  was  its  image.  The  boy  reached  manhood  and  mid 
dle  age,  doing  the  work  of  a  villager,  and  lending  a  hand  to 
his  neighbors.  Gradually  he  became  a  source  of  strength  to 
the  people  with  whom  he  was  in  contact,  and  very  slowly  as 
age  grew  upon  him,  his  fame  extended  far  beyond  his  native 
valley.  Several  times  a  celebrated  man,  born  in  the  valley, 
returned  from  the  outer  world.  Each  time  Ernest  looked 
eagerly  forward  to  his  coming,  hoping  that  he  would  resemble 
the  Great  Stone  Face.  Each  time  when  the  noted  man  ap 
peared,  Ernest  was  profoundly  disappointed,  but  still  hoped 
that  before  he  died  he  would  see  in  a  man  the  likeness  of  the 
face  of  stone.  One  evening,  while  addressing  the  villagers, 
as  had  become  his  habit,  a  poet  visitor  saw  the  truth,  and  cried, 
"Behold,  behold,  Ernest  is  himself  the  likeness  of  the  Great 
Stone  Face ! ' '  During  his  many  years  of  deep  reflection  upon 
the  inner  meanings  of  things,  and  of  faithful  service  to  his 
fellows,  his  features  had  become  the  counterpart  of  his  ideal. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  bronze  face  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  will  modify  the  spiritual  faces  of  the  students  of  the 
University  who  are  to  view  daily  the  sad,  calm,  sagacious, 
determined,  and  rugged  face  of  our  great  President  of  the 
Civil  War.  What  this  Lincoln  statue  will  do  in  the  way  of 
developing  nobility  of  character  and  sustained  courage  to 
carry  forward  the  fight  for  the  advancement  of  the  people  of 
this  country,  no  one  may  foretell ;  but  that  it  will  be  perpetu- 


388  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ally  one  of  the  great  and  high  educational  forces  of  the  Uni 
versity,  no  man  may  doubt.  From  it,  during  the  centuries 
to  come,  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  students  will  gain 
at  least  a  reflection  of  the  spirit  of  service  to  their  country 
that  animated  Abraham  Lincoln.  They  will  persist  to  the  end 
in  the  great  fight  for  right  and  equal  justice  to  all,  even  as 
did  this  man  of  sorrow.  This  spirit  will  pass  in  some  measure 
to  the  millions  with  whom  they  come  in  contact,  and  gradu 
ally  the  widening  influence  for  good  of  the  Lincoln  statue  will 
extend  throughout  the  world. 


THE  GREAT  DEBATE;  or,  THE  PROPHET  ON  THE 

STUMP 

REV.   JENKIN   LLOYD   JONES 

/CENTRAL  Illinois,  seventy-eight  years  ago,  represented, 
V-/  in  the  main,  an  unstaked  and  untracked  wild.  Its  com 
bination  of  prairie  and  forest,  its  broad  stretches  of  waving, 
wild  grass,  were  rimmed  by  ferny  glens  and  brush-protected 
creeks.  The  great  forests  yielded  logs  and  rails  for  the  pio 
neer  fences  and  cabins,  and  their  branches  sheltered  the  part 
ridges,  quail,  raccoons,  opossums,  and  deer  that  fed  the  pioneer 
and  his  family  while  he  was  hurrying  the  hominy  and  beans 
that  would  meet  the  game  on  the  table,  making  the  fare  of 
the  pioneer  toothsome  as  well  as  wholesome,  varied  as  well  as 
vigorous. 

Into  this  wild  country  a  tall,  unkempt  stripling  drove  the 
four-ox  team  that  carried  his  father  and  step-mother,  step 
brothers,  sisters,  and  cousin,  with  their  simple  household  equip 
ment,  out  of  Indiana  into  Illinois.  He  had  scarcely  reached 
his  majority.  He  tarried  with  the  family  long  enough  to 
help  house  his  aging  parents,  and  then,  with  the  characteristic 
independence  of  the  true  American  lad,  struck  out  for  himself ; 
for  at  twenty-one  the  true  pioneer  youth  accepted  the  responsi 
bilities  of  life,  became  responsible  for  his  own  bed,  board,  and 
clothing,  literally  became  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune. 
In  these  pioneer  days  the  true  American  parent  recognized 
the  boy's  right  to  his  time — come  twenty-one — and,  without 
any  sickly  distrust  or  sentimental  regret,  gave  him  his  dollar 
and  said  to  him,  *  '  Your  time  is  your  own ;  the  world  is  before 
you ;  go  seek  your  destiny. ' ' 

Thus  it  was,  a  few  months  after  the  arrival  with  the  ox- 
team  and  the  hand-made  wagon,  shaped  out  of  the  sycamore, 
hickory,  and  oak  of  Indiana  by  the  deft  hand  of  Thomas 

389 


390  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Lincoln,  the  father  carpenter,  that  the  bare-footed  stripling, 
trousered  in  buckskin  and  capped  with  coonskin,  struck  out  for 
himself,  and,  in  the  adjoining  counties  of  Macon  and  Sanga- 
mon,  entered  upon  that  great  career  that  is  the  most  pictur 
esque  as  well  as  the  most  profoundly  significant  story  in  Amer 
ican  history.  It  is  a  story  as  charming  as  it  is  inspiring,  as 
poetic  as  it  is  profound.  It  is  the  story  of  the  Odysseus  of  the 
Western  World.  The  material  pegs  upon  which  this  story 
is  hung  are  those  of  chopper,  flatboatman,  storekeeper,  post 
master,  Captain  of  militia,  surveyor,  legislator,  lawyer,  Presi 
dent,  martyr. 

The  more  inward  traces  of  the  early  parts  of  this  great 
journey  from  the  log  cabin  in  the  backwoods  of  Kentucky  to 
the  President's  chair — the  President  of  a  distracted  people, 
the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  noblest  army  that  was  ever 
marshalled  on  this  footstool  of  the  Eternal,  the  martyred  eman 
cipator,  who,  by  the  stroke  of  his  pen,  enabled  four  million 
slaves  to  stand  up  as  freemen,  and  made  human  slavery  in 
these  United  States  under  sanction  of  the  law  impossible  for 
ever  more,  making  at  last  the  boast  of  our  Republic  real — 
are  those  that  point  to  the  tireless  student,  the  matchless  story 
teller,  the  sad  humorist  of  the  Sangamon  and  the  invincible 
lawyer  on  the  circuit. 

Twenty-eight  years  after,  this  driver  of  oxen,  whose  efficient 
weapons  were  only  the  ox-goad,  the  axe,  and  the  oar,  took  the 
leading  part  in  a  great  intellectual  joust,  a  tourney  of  intellect, 
a  memorable  political  debate.  Of  this  I  would  speak  this 
morning,  on  the  centennial  anniversary  of  his  birthday. 

Abe  Lincoln,  the  ox-driver,  was  easily  the  champion  wrestler 
when  he  entered  Illinois.  His  long  arms,  sinewed  with  steel, 
his  giant  legs,  framed  as  of  iron,  were  more  than  a  match  for 
whoever  dared  grapple  with  him.  When,  twenty-eight  years 
afterwards,  Abraham  Lincoln  came  to  try  his  strength  in  the 
great  intellectual  wrestling  match  of  history,  he  was  to  clinch 
a  veritable  giant  of  intellect,  an  adept  on  the  platform,  and 
a  master  of  that  great  tester  of  brain  which  we  call  the  Amer 
ican  Stump. 

The  details  of  that  story  are  not  for  me  to  tell ;  they  should 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  391 

be  told  by  some  competent  eye  and  ear  witness.  It  was  not 
only  a  battle  of  giants,  but  it  was  a  testing  ground  of  truth, 
a  sifting  mill  of  the  Almighty,  whereby  dark  problems  were 
beaten  into  clear,  holy  issues  forced  to  the  front,  and  the 
banners  of  progress  borne  forward  by  virtue  of  the  mistakes 
and  the  crudities,  the  fallacies  as  well  as  the  truths,  then  enun 
ciated. 

The  contestants  were  mortal ;  many  of  the  arguments  were 
temporal  and  transitory;  but  immortal  justice  broke  through 
the  subterfuges  and  the  sophistries,  the  passing  passion,  the 
unworthy  ambition,  and  the  flippant  applause  that  so  filled 
the  foreground  of  those  days  that  the  grim  but  sublime  figures 
of  Truth  and  Right  in  the  background  were  so  obscured  that, 
at  the  end  of  fifty  years,  we  are  just  beginning  to  see  through 
the  dust  and  to  distinguish  between  the  passing,  and  the  per 
manent  notes,  in  the  boisterous  turmoil. 

The  great  debate  began  at  Ottawa,  August  31,  and  closed 
at  Alton,  October  15,  1858.  Seven  times  was  the  trumpet 
blown,  summoning  the  giants  to  battle;  seven  times  did  vast 
multitudes  of  feverish,  distracted,  perplexed  voters  seek  to 
champion  their  chosen  leaders;  others,  perhaps  the  majority, 
sought  for  light,  hoping  for  some  solution  of  the  great  per 
plexity. 

This  battle  of  giants  in  Illinois  fifty  years  ago,  represents  one 
great  climacteric  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  There 
democracy  was  fought  to  a  finish,  so  far  as  two  mighty  men 
could  fight  it,  on  the  true  battle  field  of  democracy — the  politi 
cal  stump.  Here  was  waged  the  war  of  the  new  regime,  with 
ballots — not  bullets — for  weapons.  The  parry  and  thrust  in 
this  contest  were  with  wit  and  not  with  bayonets ;  here  blood 
flowed  freely  indeed,  but  through  unsevered  arteries ;  the  red 
currents  tided  with  increasing  potency  through  enkindled 
brains  and  flaming  hearts. 

We  turn  the  pages  of  history  in  vain  to  find  anything  com 
parable  with  the  popular  enthusiasm,  the  civic  awakening, 
the  political  revival,  which  culminated  in  the  great  debate 
between  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Illinois 
in  1858. 


392  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Draw  a  line  from  the  prophetic  heights  upon  which  stood 
the  great  reformers  of  Jewry  in  the  eighth  century  B.  C. — 
Amos,  Micah,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah — to  the  peaks  of  prophecy 
whereon  stood  the  rail-splitter  of  Illinois  in  the  nineteenth 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  there  is  no  leader  in  civic 
agitation,  no  champion  of  just  government,  high  enactments, 
and  progressive  legislation,  whose  head  rises  to  break  the  line. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  political  revolutions  that  followed 
in  the  wake  of  Benedict,  Charlemagne,  Luther,  and  Cromwell ; 
I  am  not  speaking  of  the  saintliness  and  spiritual  clearness 
reached  by  individual  souls,  such  as  Socrates,  Paul,  St.  Fran 
cis,  Fox,  Channing,  and  their  fellows.  What  I  mean  to  say 
is,  that  from  Amos  and  Isaiah  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his 
fellows,  no  political  issue,  no  legislative  problem,  was  found  so 
ethical — none  was  so  freighted  with  principle,  so  identified 
with  the  cause  of  justice  and  progress — as  that  beaten  out  and 
brought  to  the  high  issues  of  popular  suffrage  by  the  great 
debate,  the  semi-centennial  of  which  was  celebrated  with  fit 
ting  pomp,  oratory,  and  song  in  the  State  of  Illinois  last 
'Autumn. 

The  cause  of  freedom,  the  rights  of  races  and  religions,  were 
often  challenged  in  the  intervening  centuries,  and  such  causes 
have  always  found  inspired  spokesmen;  but  in  such  crises 
the  appeal,  for  the  most  part,  was  made  to  crowned  heads; 
the  fate  of  justice  was  in  the  hands  of  an  aristocracy,  either 
civic  or  ecclesiastic.  Such  appeals,  for  the  most  part,  were  to 
dukes  or  to  bishops,  convocations  of  priests  or  of  nobles.  But 
this  appeal  was  to  the  people,  the  common  people ;  the  question 
was  submitted,  not  to  the  decision  of  clerics  or  of  warriors, 
but  to  voters. 

We  talk  of  "the  War  of  '61  to  '65,"  and,  at  this  distance, 
the  younger  men  and  women  may  think  of  it  as  a  clap  of 
thunder  out  of  a  clear  sky,  an  unexpected  cloud-burst  in  the 
heavens  that  were  otherwise  serene.  Not  so.  One  of  the  latest 
and  most  philosophic  studies  of  the  great  conflict  is  entitled 
"The  American  Ten  Years'  War,  from  1855  to  1865."  This 
author,  Denton  'J.  Snyder,  finds  the  beginning  of  the  conflict 
at  least  as  far  back  as  the  first  invasion  of  Kansas  by  five 


.    : 


- 


s    c 
o 

3  ^ 

l'i: 

,->     O 

g 

5' 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  393 

thousand  and  more  armed  men,  well  named  "Border  Ruf 
fians,"  for  they  came  from  slave-holding  territory  for  the 
express  purpose  of  extending  the  boundaries  of  the  same. 
This  army  was  met  by  a  force,  equally  picturesque  and  intense, 
but  far  more  lofty  in  character  and  purpose.  It  came  from 
the  north  and  east  to  hold  "bleeding  Kansas "  to  liberty. 
Grim,  dauntless  "Old  John  Brown  of  Ossawattomie"  is  not 
an  unworthy  representative  of  this  other  army.  In  the  presi 
dential  campaign  of  1856  battle  lines  became  more  defined 
when  the  friends  of  freedom  and  haters  of  slavery  found  a 
not  unfitting  standard-bearer  in  the  dashing  path-finder  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  John  C.  Fremont.  Two  years  later,  here 
in  Illinois,  the  other  side  was  marshalled  into  battle  line  by 
its  brilliant  Senator,  the  "Little  Giant,"  who  met  the  com 
paratively  obscure  champion  of  a  new  and  unpopular  move 
ment  in  high  debate. 

To  adequately  tell  the  story  of  this  debate  would  be  to  write 
the  history  of  American  slavery;  to  trace  its  origin,  breadth, 
strength,  decay,  and  death  would  be  to  discuss  the  perplexities 
that  gathered  around  it  from  beginning  to  finish.  It  would 
further  be  to  discuss  the  ethics  of  expediency  and  to  test  the 
logic  of  compromise. 

In  this  great  debate  the  prophet  and  the  politician  met  face 
to  face,  not  only  in  the  persons  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and 
Abraham  Lincoln,  but  in  the  internal  arrangement,  the  spirit 
ual  equipment,  the  conflict  within  the  breasts  of  both  Douglas 
and  Lincoln;  for  politics  and  prophecy  wrestled  with  each 
other  in  the  utterances  of  both  these  men.  To  use  Lincoln's 
own  figure,  as  remembered  by  Carl  Schurz,  "These  wrestlers 
worked  themselves  almost  into  one  another 's  coats. ' ' 

Here  two  theories  of  government,  two  criteria  of  action,  two 
tests  of  what  is  true  and  wise  in  human  conduct  and  State 
enactments,  clutched  in  deadly  combat. 

Never  did  two  knights,  haloed  in  poetry  and  romance,  meet 
in  tournament  more  picturesque  or  with  more  striking  con 
trasts.  One  came,  boastful  of  superior  ancestry,  conscious  of 
a  noble  New  England  lineage,  a  proud  son  of  Vermont,  stocked 
with  sufficient  learning  to  give  him  prestige  among  the  un- 


394  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

schooled  pioneers — the  prestige  of  a  schoolmaster  had  given 
way  to  the  successful  lawyer,  the  triumphant  politician  who 
had  already  won  with  honor  the  senatorial  toga — short,  fat,  a 
master  of  sarcasm,  a  debater  of  national  repute.  The  other 
came,  as  he  and  his  neighbors  supposed,  a  child  of  humble, 
illiterate,  obscure  parentage,  the  story  of  which  he  modestly 
condensed  into  the  single  line  of  poetry — '  *  The  short  and  sim 
ple  annals  of  the  poor. ' '  In  appearance  they  were  as  diverse  as 
they  were  in  their  origin  and  their  pretension ;  it  was  five  feet 
two  versus  six  feet  four.  It  seemed,  again,  to  be  a  cavalier 
versus  a  plebeian. 

Already  the  University  of  his  native  State  had  invested  the 
favored  son,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  with  academic  honors.  He 
was  LL.  D.  Lincoln's  literary  fame  and  scholastic  attain 
ments  consisted  only  in  the  reputation  of  being  the  champion 
story-teller  of  the  Sangamon  district,  the  ^Esop  of  the  prairies, 
the  Merry  Andrew  of  the  Illinois  bar.  There  were  no  academic 
honors  for  him.  His  idiom  was  provincial ;  his  pronunciation 
was  that  of  a  rustic.  The  scholars  deplored  the  lack  of  that 
something  called  "culture,"  but  the  farmers  greeted  one 
another  with,  "Have  you  heard  Abe's  last?" 

These  are  points  of  contrast,  but  there  were  points  of  agree 
ment  equally  interesting,  which  points  were  well  stated  by 
Douglas  in  the  opening  speech  at  Ottawa  as  he  manoeuvred 
for  an  advantageous  start  in  the  great  tournament : 

"I  have  known  him  for  nearly  twenty-five  years.  There  were  many 
points  of  sympathy  between  us  when  we  first  got  acquainted.  We 
were  both  comparatively  boys,  and  both  struggling  with  poverty  in  a 
strange  land.  I  was  a  school  teacher  in  the  town  of  Winchester, 
and  he  a  flourishing  grocery-keeper  in  the  town  of  Salem.  He  waa 
more  successful  in  his  occupation  than  I  was  in  mine,  and  hence  more 
fortunate  in  this  world's  goods.  Lincoln  is  one  of  those  peculiar  men 
who  perform  with  admirable  skill  everything  which  they  undertake.  I 
made  as  good  a  school  teacher  as  I  could,  and  when  a  cabinet-maker 
I  made  a  good  bedstead  and  tables,  although  my  old  boss  said  I  suc 
ceeded  better  with  bureaus  and  secretaries  than  with  anything  else; 
but  I  believe  that  Lincoln  was  always  more  successful  in  business 
than  I,  for  his  business  enabled  him  to  get  into  the  Legislature.  I 
met  him  there,  however,  and  had  a  sympathy  with  him,  because  of 
the  uphill  struggle  we  both  had  in  life.  He  was  then  just  as  good  at 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  395 

telling  an  anecdote  as  now.  ...  I  sympathized  with  him  because 
he  was  struggling  with  difficulties,  and  so  was  I.  Mr.  Lincoln  served 
with  me  in  the  Legislature  in  1836,  when  we  both  retired,  and  he 
subsided,  or  became  submerged,  and  he  was  lost  sight  of  as  a  public 
man  for  some  years." 

At  the  outset,  "  Little  Giant "  was  a  happier  phrase  to  con 
jure  by  than  that  of  "raftsman,"  "ox-driver,"  or  "rail- 
splitter."  There  is  evidence  that  Douglas  and  his  friends 
were  loath  to  accept  the  challenge  from  this  rustic,  lest  it 
might  lower  the  dignity  of  a  United  States  Senator  and  give 
undue  publicity  to  an  obscure  rival.  But  the  careful  historian 
also  discovers  that  the  man  from  Vermont  realized  the  quality 
of  his  foeman;  he  shrank  from  putting  his  astuteness  over 
against  the  homely  frankness  of  the  man  from  Kentucky;  he 
felt,  if  he  did  not  know,  that  the  common  people  were  more 
familiar  with  principle  than  with  diplomacy,  and  more  sus 
ceptible  to  the  appeal  to  the  heart  and  the  conscience  than  to 
the  logic  of  prudence  and  the  intrigue  of  politicians. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  Lincoln  feared  that  his 
unschooled  oratory  would  be  no  match  for  the  more  brilliant 
rhetoric  of  the  Senator;  that  he  would  be  cornered  and  con 
fused  by  the  dexterity  of  his  opponent.  But,  most  of  all, 
they  feared  that  Lincoln's  intensity  of  conviction  and  frank 
ness  of  aim  would  undo  him,  even  if  the  brilliancy  of  his 
opponent  failed,  and  the  sequel  shows  how  well  founded  were 
these  anxieties. 

This  battle  of  giants  began  at  least  as  far  back  as  that 
motley  gathering  in  Bloomington  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May, 
1856,  where  the  Republican  party  of  Illinois  was  born.  It 
was  a  convention  of  discontents,  the  disturbed,  detached,  and 
semi-detached  fragments  of  all  the  old  parties :  the  old  Whigs, 
who  were  ready  to  confess  the  imbecility  and  inadequacy  of 
their  party;  the  uneasy  Democrats,  who  were  beginning  to 
face  the  problem  which  the  party,  honestly,  in  the  main,  tried 
to  evade;  the  out-and-out  radicals,  those  who  had  heard  the 
moan  of  the  slave-mother,  the  crack  of  the  slave-driver's  whip, 
those  who,  with  the  eye  of  the  spirit,  had  seen  what  the 
Mississippi  River  boatman  had  seen  with  his  bodily  eyes  in 


S96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

New  Orleans  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  before — a  woman 
on  the  auction  block — and  could  understand  and  approve  the 
exclamation  of  the  boy  Lincoln  to  his  cousin,  John  Hanks, 
1 '  Great  God,  look  at  that !  If  power  is  ever  given  me  I  will 
hit  that  accursed  thing  hard!"  Here  were  Abolitionists 
proud  of  the  name,  successors  of  Lovejoy,  followers  of  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Theodore  Parker,  those  to 
whom  the  ringing  measures  of  Whittier  and  Lowell  were  as 
psalms  of  the  sanctuary;  and  those  who  were  ill  at  ease  in 
their  presence,  who  dreaded  their  vehemence  and  disclaimed 
the  incendiary  title.  History  calls  it  a  convention,  but  it 
was  rather  an  unorganized  and  incoherent  mass  without 
vision;  they  were  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  and  in  their 
imbecility  they  cried  " Lincoln  1"  " Lincoln!"  " Lincoln!" 
And  the  man  whose  political  ideal  had  always  been  Henry 
Clay,  who  had  grown  weary  in  waiting  for  the  Whigs,  his 
political  party,  to  rise  to  the  occasion,  whose  spirit  chafed 
within  its  bonds,  at  last  broke  loose  in  a  speech,  the  very 
excellence  of  which  threatened  to  annihilate  it.  A  young 
newspaper  reporter  on  Tine  Chicago  Tribune — subsequently 
to  become  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  that  paper  in  its 
ascendant  era — Joseph  Medill,  said : 

"I  began  taking  notes  but  I  soon  forgot  myself,  joined  with  the 
convention  in  cheering  and  stamping  and  clapping  to  the  end.  When 
the  calm  had  come  I  awoke  out  of  an  hypnotic  trance  and  thought  of 
my  report  for  the  Tribune,  aad  there  was  nothing  written.  It  was 
some  sort  of  satisfaction  to  find  that  I  had  not  been  scooped,  as  all 
the  newspaper  men  present  had  been  equally  carried  away  by  the 
excitement  caused  by  the  wonderful  oration  and  had  made  no  report 
or  sketch  of  this  speech." 

Forty  years  after,  the  famous  "lost  speech"  was  partly 
rescued  from  oblivion  by  the  energy  of  "McClure's  Maga 
zine."  A  skeleton  of  the  speech,  elicited  from  the  memory 
of  H.  C.  Whitney  and  others,  was  printed  in  the  September 
number  of  1896,  and  we  discover  in  this  ragged  remnant  that 
all  the  logic,  pathos,  and  appeal  of  his  subsequent  career  were 
anticipated  in  that  explosion  of  the  spirit.  It  created  a  po 
litical  Pentecost,  and,  however  diverse  the  vernacular,  all 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  397 

understood  the  Evangel,  yielded  to  the  gospel  appeal,  and 
were  lifted  up  above  the  trammels  of  expediency,  halting  poli 
cies,  and  that  black  beast — the  bugaboo  that  has  demoralized 
and  degraded  so  many  Conventions — "What  will  they  say?" 
* '  What  will  they  say  ?' '  " They ' '  will  say,  of  course,  the  idlest 
thing  that  is  going  in  an  earnest  world;  "they"  will  put 
shortest  meaning  on  long  sentences;  "they"  will  interpret 
noble  utterances  meanly,  "they"  will  parry,  qualify,  discount, 
distrust,  hold  back,  using  the  breeching  instead  of  the  collar 
in  the  harness  that  is  attached  to  the  car  of  progress. 

There  at  Bloomington,  as  Whitney  remembered,  Lincoln 
said: 

"The  battle  of  freedom  is  to  be  fought  out  on  principle.  Slavery 
is  a  violation  of  the  eternal  right.  We  have  temporized  with  it  from 
the  necessities  of  our  condition,  but  as  sure  as  God  reigns  and  school 
children  read,  THAT  BLACK  FOUL  LIE  CAN  NEVER  BE  CONSECRATED  INTO 

GOD'S   HALLOWED   TRUTH!       .      .      . 

"In  seeking  to  attain  these  results — so  indispensable  if  the  liberty 
which  is  our  pride  and  boast  shall  endure — we  will  be  loyal  to  the 
Constitution  and  to  the  'flag  of  our  Union';  and  no  matter  what  our 
grievance — even  though  Kansas  shall  come  in  as  a  slave  State;  and 
no  matter  what  theirs — even  if  we  shall  restore  the  Compromise — we 
will  say  to  the  Southern  Disunionists,  'WE  WON'T  GO  OUT  OF  THE  UNION, 
AND  YOU  SHAN'T!  !  !'" 

Here  the  record  ends  abruptly  in  a  series  of  exclamation 
points;  the  sentences  are  lost  in  a  blaze  of  light,  but  the  con 
quering  spirit  was  there  awakened,  and  in  the  astoundingly 
short  period  of  seven  years  the  hand  of  the  orator  fulfilled 
the  prophecy  of  the  heart  and  signed  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation. 

Two  years  after  the  birth  throes  at  Bloomington,  'June  17, 
1858,  the  Republican  State  Convention  at  Springfield  was  to 
name  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate  to  take  the 
place  of  Illinois 's  favored  son,  one  whose  fame  was  already 
national,  the  brilliant  "Little  Giant,"  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
The  Chicago  delegation  carried  into  the  hall  a  banner  upon 
which  was  inscribed,  "CooK  COUNTY  FOB  LINCOLN!"  In 
the  midst  of  wild  excitement  a  man  from  down  the  State 
asked  permission  to  revise  the  banner,  and  placed  over  the 


398  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

words,  "CooK  COUNTY,"  in  larger  letters,  the  word,  "  ILLI 
NOIS/  '  and  the1  unanimity  did  not  wait  for  formal  ballot. 
That  night  the  Pilot  of  Destiny  took  his  place  at  the  wheel 
and  ventured  to  cast  the  horoscope  of  national  politics,  and, 
like  the  captain  on  the  high  seas  that  he  was,  he  took  his 
reckoning  by  the  stars. 

* '  Where  are  we  and  whither  are  we  tending  ? ' '  was  his  first 
question,  and  this  his  portentous  answer: 

"  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this  gov 
ernment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do 
not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall; 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing,  or  all  the  other." 

Three  weeks  later,  Senator  Douglas  returned  from  Wash 
ington,  and  in  the  City  of  Chicago  began  the  fight  for  the 
retention  of  the  toga.  The  worst  fears  of  Lincoln's  friends 
were  realized.  The  fated  "house-divided-against-itself "  pas 
sage  was  seized  upon  as  the  war  cry  of  the  " Little  Giant." 
This  was  i  l  incendiary ' '  doctrine ;  it  was  ' '  sectionalism, "  ' '  de 
fiant  to  the  Constitution,"  " dangerous  to  the  State."  It  was 
"rebellion,"  "treason,"  and  the  lovers  of  freedom  trembled. 
But  Lincoln  was  not  scared.  Next  week,  at  the  Springfield 
State  Fair,  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  both  heard.  Lines  were 
being  formed,  arguments  being  marshalled.  Douglas  was 
tactical;  it  was  for  him  to  dissipate  the  rising  enthusiasm, 
to  multiply  perplexities,  to  scatter  the  attention,  to  impress 
the  public  with  the  ethical  confusion,  the  economic  menace, 
and  the  political  dangers  of  the  situation.  He  was  sincerely 
alarmed.  Lincoln  saw  his  course  much  more  clearly;  his 
larger  ship  sank  into  the  deeper  waters  where  lies  the  eternal 
calm. 

"When  winds  are  raging  o'er  the  upper  ocean, 
And  billows  wild  contend  with  angry  roar, 
JT  is  said,  far  down  beneath  the  wild  commotion, 
That  peaceful  stillness  reigneth  evermore." 

So,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  July,  1858,  thirty-seven 
days  afte*r  the  fateful  Springfield  address,  Lincoln  addressed 
the  following  note  to  Douglas : 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  399 

"CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS,  July  24,  1858. 
"HoN.   S.  A.  DOUGLAS. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Will  it  be  agreeable  to  you  to  make  an  arrangement 
for  you  and  myself  to  divide  time,  and  address  the  same  audiences  the 
present  canvass?  Mr.  Judd,  who  will  hand  you  this,  is  authorized 
to  receive  your  answer;  and,  if  agreeable  to  you,  to  enter  into  the 
terms  of  such  arrangement.- 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

The  same  day  the  reply  came,  written  at  some  length, 
evasive,  halting,  but  consenting  to  speak  once  in  each  of  the 
seven  congressional  districts.  And  so  the  great  itinerary  was 
arranged  for — 

Ottawa, August  21 

Freeport, "  27 

Jonesboro, Sept.  15 

Charleston, "  18 

Galesburg, Oct.  7 

Quincy, "  13 

Alton, «  15 

On  the  fiftieth  anniversary  year,  the  spots  whereon  these 
hustings  were  held  were  glow  points  in  the  history  of  Illinois. 
Here,  unconsciously,  the  destiny  of  the  nation  hung  upon  the 
breath  of  these  two  men.  Bronze  tablets  to  commemorate  the 
dates  and  places  were  placed,  and  the  pen  of  the  historian, 
the  poet,  and  the  philosopher  were  sharpened  to  interpret  the 
same. 

In  1858,  the  students  of  Knox  College  displayed  on  the  front 
of  the  building,  in  rear  of  the  open-air  platform,  in  bold  let 
ters  :  ' '  KNOX  COLLEGE  is  FOB  LINCOLN  ! ' '  Forty  years  after, 
in  1896,  a  bronze  tablet  was  put  into  the  face  of  the  building, 
and  the  movement  for  the  erection  of  a  Lincoln  Science  Hall 
was  set  afoot,  with  the  nation 's  applause. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  speakers  were  to  introduce  the 
debates  alternately,  Douglas  securing  the  first  and  last  open 
ing,  by  his  own  stipulation.  The  first  speaker  was  to  occupy 
an  hour;  the  next,  an  hour  and  a  half;  the  first  speaker  to 
close  with  half  an  hour  rejoinder.  Biographers,  writers  of 
fiction  and  poetry,  and  orators,  have  tried  to  depict  the  pic- 


400  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

turesqueness,  the  dramatic  intensity,  the  popular  outpourings 
of  these  gatherings,  but  they  have  all  failed.  Only  those  who 
were  of  it  and  in  it  can  understand  how  they  came — by  wagons 
and  by  trains,  afoot,  on  horseback,  across  State  and  County 
lines,  overflowing  hotels,  and  private  houses — camping  out  on 
the  prairies,  sleeping  under  the  stars,  enduring  uncomplain 
ingly  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun,  cheering  unwearied  by  the 
light  of  the  moon,  disputing,  debating,  talking,  talking,  and, 
what  is  better,  thinking,  thinking,  and  thinking  again  on  new 
lines.  For  the  most  part  such  political  gatherings  do  but  little 
more  than  confirm  convictions  already  held,  deepen  prejudices 
which  the  listeners  carry  with  them,  but  here  men  were  con 
verted,  not  only  by  individuals,  but  by  families,  in  blocks; 
audiences  were  given  fresh  angles  of  vision,  touched  with  new 
purposes  and  enthusiasms,  and  the  votes  of  Counties  changed. 

The  spectacular  phases,  the  externals  of  this  debate,  were 
fascinating  and  striking.  Douglas  was  the  cavalier  riding  in 
his  special  car,  often  drawn  by  special  engine,  accompanied 
by  brass  bands  that  played, ' c  Lo,  the  conquering  hero  comes ! ' ' 
A  cannon,  carried  on  an  open  car,  belched  the  news  of  his 
arrival;  gaily  caparisoned  coaches  met  him,  and  mounted 
horsemen  caricoled  at  the  head  of  the  column  that  wended  its 
way  to  the  stand ;  a  barouche  with  four  milk-white  horses  was 
his  Freeport  conveyance. 

On  the  other  hand  was  Lincoln,  plain,  awkward,  carrying 
his  own  shawl  and  grip,  at  first  at  least  travelling  lonely, 
sometimes  in  the  caboose  of  freight  cars;  and  when,  towards 
the  end,  his  fellow-citizens  would  do  him  honor,  convoyed  by 
them  to  the  speaker's  stand  in  a  "prairie  schooner." 

But  the  more  exciting  features  were  psychological.  It  was 
a  duel  of  intellects,  a  battle  of  brains,  in  which,  for  strategic 
agility  and  platform  manoeuvring,  Senator  Douglas  probably 
held  the  advantage  all  the  way  through.  It  is  painful  to  see 
how  much  time  was  consumed  on  both  sides  in  seeking  tactical 
advantage,  the  one  of  the  other.  The  wrestlers  stood  often 
at  bay  and  used  the  precious  time,  each  in  trying  to  get  the 
under  hold.  But  it  was  no  playtime  for  the  speakers.  Al 
though  delivered  without  manuscript  and  illumined  with  the 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  401 

play  and  repartee  of  extempore  speech,  each  speaker  did  his 
level  best ;  there  is  evidence  of  careful  preparation  and  studied 
utterances  on  both  sides. 

At  this  distance  "Squatter  sovereignty/'  "State  sover 
eignty,  "  "The  Wilmot  Proviso, "  "Lecompton  Constitution, " 
"Nebraska  and  Anti-Nebraska  Bills,"  "Bleeding  Kansas/' 
"Border  Ruffians,"  even  the  "Mason  and  Dixon  Line,"  and 
the  "Dred  Scott  decision,"  need  interpretation;  they  mean 
but  little  to  our  children,  but  these  words  represent  the  storm- 
centres  of  the  debate.  Between  the  lines  of  these  speeches 
it  is  not  hard  to  discover  the  real  debate  in  a  nutshell,  and  here 
it  is:  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand;  this  na 
tion  cannot  remain  half  slave  and  half  free,  and  it  will  not  be 
wholly  slave. 

This  was  the  bright  target  against  which  the  polished 
arrows  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  fell  like  hail.  He  accused 
Lincoln  of  awakening  a  sectional  spirit,  arousing  race  preju 
dices,  provoking  slave-holding  anxieties,  shocking  conventional 
proprieties,  defying  constitutional  safeguards;  in  short,  mak 
ing  himself  an  impractical  fanatic  who  would  be  an  idealist, 
a  reckless  reformer. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  an  unguarded  moment,  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  had  said  that  he  "did  not  care  whether  in  the  new 
Territory  of  Kansas  slavery  was  voted  up  or  voted  down!" 
This  became  the  centre  of  Lincoln's  attack,  the  vulnerable 
target  for  his  high  archery.  Here  was  a  man  seeking  the 
popular  suffrage,  who  was  dull  to  the  instincts  of  liberty, 
indifferent  to  the  atrocities  of  slavery,  careless  of  the  rights 
of  the  human  soul,  defiant  to  the  fundamental  postulates  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  to  Lincoln  meant  all 
men.  Douglas  maintained  it  meant  only  all  white  men,  with 
preference  for  native-born  white  Americans  at  that.  "Did 
not  care  whether  the  virgin  State  of  Kansas  should  be  dedi 
cated  to  perpetual  freedom  or  to  perpetual  slavery!"  ex 
claimed  Lincoln.  "Was  this,  a  man  who  made  his  policy  of 
State  Sovereignty  of  more  importance  than  the  principles  of 
human  liberty,  to  be  returned  to  the  United  States  Senate 

and  perchance  two  years  hence  to  take  his  place  as  the  stand- 
26 


402  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ard-bearer  of  the  Democratic  Party,  and  to  be  made  President 
of  the  great  Republic  ? "  he  further  asked. 

The  debate  began  at  Ottawa,  where  liberty-loving  sentiment 
was  strong.  Here  Douglas  propounded  seven  questions,  hop 
ing  to  commit  Lincoln  to  the  most  radical  position,  so  that, 
to  use  his  own  phrase,  "When  I  trot  him  down  to  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  where  the  pro-slavery  sentiment  is  strong, 
I  can  show  him  in  his  true  light."  But  Lincoln's  boyish  skill 
as  a  wrestler  held  him  in  good  stead.  He  postponed  the  an 
swers  until  the  next  meeting,  and  his  final  appeal  was  so 
satisfying  that  at  the  close  of  the  debate  he  was  carried  to 
the  hotel  on  the  shoulders  of  his  admirers. 

Six  days  later,  at  Freeport,  Lincoln  answered  Douglas's 
seven  questions  and  retorted  by  propounding  four  hard  ques 
tions  to  "The  Little  Giant."  The  second  question  was  such 
as  to  give  Douglas  an  opportunity  to  answer  in  a  way  to 
allay  the  anxiety  of  the  hesitating  friends  of  liberty  and  to 
justify  his  halting  politics  to  the  cautious  politicians.  Lin 
coln's  friends  strongly  disapproved  of  this  question,  for  tacti 
cal  reasons.  A  delegation  of  Chicago  friends  disturbed  his 
midnight  slumbers  at  Dixon  the  night  before  the  debate  with 
their  protests,  but  Lincoln  proved  the  more  skilful  tactician. 
He  was  courting  short-range  defeat  in  the  interest  of  a  long- 
range  victory.  When  Douglas  said,  "The  people  of  a  Terri 
tory  have  the  right  to  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits,"  he 
reassured  his  Northern  friends,  but  in  the  same  breath  he 
incurred  the  distrust  and  enmity  of  every  sincere  believer  in 
slavery.  By  that  simple  sentence  Douglas  forfeited  forever 
the  confidence  of  the  Southern  slaveholder. 

The  next  bout,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  September,  was  at 
Jonesboro  in  Union  County.  This  is  as  near  Egypt  as  you 
can  ever  get  in  Illinois,  for  it  is  always  said  to  begin  "in  the 
next  County  south."  The  audience  was  necessarily  largely 
people  of  Southern  antecedents,  and  Douglas  knew  his  audi 
ence;  he  made  the  most  of  their  prejudices;  feathered  his 
arrows  with  Fred  Douglass  who,  he  said,  came  to  hear  him  at 
Freeport,  riding  in  a  carriage  beside  a  white  woman,  while 
her  husband  sat  on  the  box  with  the  driver.  His  favorite 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  403 

epithet  here  was  "Black  Republican."  Here  he  propounded 
the  old  brutal  reductio  ad  absurdum  as  to  the  white  man 
marrying  a  black  woman. 

Lincoln,  too,  knew  how  to  use  geographical  prejudices.  In 
his  closing  sentences  at  Jonesboro  he  said : 

"Did  the  Judge  talk  of  trotting  me  down  to  Egypt  to  scare  me  to 
death?  Why,  I  know  this  people  better  than  he  does.  I  was  raised 
just  a  little  east  of  here.  I  am  a  part  of  this  people.  But  the  Judge 
was  raised  further  North,  and  perhaps  he  has  some  horrid  idea  of 
what  this  people  might  be  induced  to  do." 

The  next  debate  was  held  at  Charleston.  After  this  at 
Galesburg,  Lincoln  said : 

"Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  ephemeral  contest  between  Judge 
Douglas  and  myself,  I  see  the  day  rapidly  approaching  when  his  pill 
of  sectionalism,  which  he  has  been  thrusting  down  the  throats  of  Re 
publicans  for  years  past,  will  be  crowded  down  his  own  throat." 

A  week  later,  October  13,  they  were  at  Quincy,  and,  two 
days  after,  the  great  tournament  came  to  an  end  at  Alton. 
Douglas's  voice  had  given  out;  his  friends  listened  to  him 
with  pain  and  anxiety.  Lincoln's  voice  was  clear,  his  en 
thusiasm  unabated,  and  his  courage  waxing  stronger  and 
stronger.  They  were  standing  on  ground  already  consecrated 
to  liberty.  Here,  twenty  years  before,  Elijah  Lovejoy's 
printing  press  was  thrown  into  the  river,  the  publishing  house 
burned,  and  he  himself  gave  his  life  to  the  cause — the  first 
conspicuous  soldier  to  fall  in  the  battle  for  freedom  and  the 
Union.  More  clearly  than  anywhere  else,  perhaps,  Lincoln 
outlined  the  inevitable  conflict;  he  saw  the  impending  crisis. 

But  before  I  ask  you  to  listen  to  his  closing  appeal,  I  must 
give  a  few  moments  to  the  consideration  of  the  Charleston 
debate,  the  most  prominent  of  all  the  debates  to  this  time  and 
place,  but  to  the  historian  perhaps  the  least  significant  be 
cause  the  most  personal,  for  it  was  almost  wholly  given  over 
to  a  discussion  of  Lyman  Trumbull's  part  in  the  imbroglio — 
Douglas  trying  to  clear  himself  from  what  he  considered 
certain  misstatements  of  Senator  Trumbull ;  Lincoln  attempt 
ing  to  vindicate  the  character  of  Judge  Trumbull  and  to 


404  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

substantiate  the  charges.  The  intricacies  and  subtilties  of 
this  debate  may  be  judged  when  I  tell  you  that  in  the  Nicolay 
and  Hay  edition  of  the  ' '  Speeches  and  Addresses  of  Lincoln ' ' 
there  are  over  ten  solid  pages  in  fine  type  of  supplementary 
reading,  put  in  as  necessary  material  in  order  to  understand 
the  debate  at  Charleston. 

Lincoln  opened  the  debate,  his  speech  covering  ten  pages  in 
the  book  just  referred  to.  Notwithstanding  the  secondary 
matter  just  described,  the  speech  is  memorable  and  immortal, 
if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  here  at  Charleston  he  silenced, 
once  and  for  all,  the  coarse  knock-out  bravado  of  the  "black 
wife"  threat,  which  Douglas  propounded  at  Jonesboro,  and 
which  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  is  still  the  last  resort,  the 
stock  in  trade  of  him  who  would  appeal  to  race  prejudice 
and  justify  the  injustice  and  inequalities  resting  thereon. 

"I  do  not  understand,"  said  the  greatest  Kentuckian,  "that  because 
I  do  not  want  a  negro  woman  for  a  slave  I  necessarily  want  her  for 
a  wife.  ...  I  am  now  in  my  fiftieth  year  and  I  certainly  never 
have  had  a  black  woman  for  either  a  slave  or  a  wife.  So  it  seems  to 
me  quite  possible  for  us  to  get  along  without  making  either  slaves  or 
wives  of  negroes." 

Two  flashes  of  Lincoln's  wit  brighten  the  first  address.  He 
reminded  that  audience  that  the  social  and  political  relations 
of  the  negro  and  the  white  man  were  matters  of  state  and  not 
of  United  States  legislation,  and  inasmuch  as  Judge  Douglas 
was  in  constant  horror  of  some  rapidly  approaching  danger 
in  that  direction,  he  suggested  that  the  most  efficient  means 
to  prevent  this  would  be  to  keep  the  Judge  at  home  and  send 
him  to  the  State  Legislature,  there  to  fight  the  dangerous 
measure. 

Again  alluding  to  Judge  Douglas's  disclaimer  of  certain 
action  in  the  Kansas  matter,  Lincoln  said,  "It  is  said  that  a 
bear  is  sometimes  hard  enough  pushed  to  drop  a  cub,  and 
so  I  presume  it  was  in  this  case. ' ' 

Stephen  A.  Douglas's  Address,  delivered  fifty  years  ago, 
covers  sixteen  compact  pages  in  the  authorized  version  of 
Lincoln's  "Works,"  filled  with  dexterous  sarcasm,  and  elo 
quent,  sometimes  fiery,  appeals  to  race  prejudice.  He  talks 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  405 

of  Lincoln's  "rank  abolitionism, "  his  "negro  equality  doc 
trine,"  the  "enormity  of  the  principles  of  the  Abolitionists," 
accuses  Lincoln  of  an  attempt  to  conceal  "from  this  vast 
audience  the  real  question  which  divides  the  two  great  par 
ties";  he  discovers  a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  "Black 
Republicans"  to  carry  the  election  by  slander  and  not  by  fair 
means;  says  "Lincoln's  only  hope  of  riding  into  office  is 
on  TrumbuH's  back,  bearing  his  calumnies";  accuses  Lin 
coln  of  trying  to  occupy  his  time  in  personal  matters  to 
prevent  his  showing  up  the  revolutionary  principles  which  the 
Abolition  Party  has  proclaimed  to  the  world;  talks  of  "Fred 
Douglass,  the  negro,  hunting  me  down,  now  speaking  in  the 
Southern  part  of  the  State";  flaunts  in  the  face  of  the  audi 
ence  a  printed  speech  of  the  "black  orator";  charges  the 
"Black  Republicans"  with  changing  their  names  and  com 
plexions  like  a  chameleon. 

Lincoln 's  half-hour  rejoinder  covers  six  pages  of  the  official 
report ;  he  explains  his  position  on  negro  citizenship  in  a  way 
that  would  at  the  present  time  satisfy  the  most  cautious  ex- 
Confederate  of  the  South;  explains  his  position  on  the 
Mexican  War  while  in  Congress — always  refusing  to  vote  for 
any  endorsement  of  the  origin  or  justice  of  the  War,  but  never 
refusing  to  vote  supplies  for  the  army.  In  this  speech  he 
compared  Judge  Douglas  to  the  "cuttle  fish,  a  small  species 
of  fish  that  has  no  mode  of  defending  itself  when  pursued 
except  by  throwing  out  a  black  fluid,  which  makes  the  water 
so  dark  that  the  enemy  cannot  see  it,  and  thus  it  escapes." 
The  sagacious  lawyer  of  the  circuit  was  alert  and  alive.  He 
would  stand  no  "playing  upon  the  meaning  of  words,"  or 
"quibbling  around  the  edges  of  the  evidence."  Pointing  to 
an  individual,  he  said: 

"I  assert  that  you  are  here  to-day,  and  you  undertake  to  prove  me 
a  liar  by  showing  that  you  were  in  Mattoon  yesterday.  I  say  that  you 
took  your  hat  off  your  head,  and  you  prove  me  a  liar  by  putting  it  on 
your  head.  This  is  the  whole  force  of  Douglas's  argument." 

But  for  all  this  playfulness  and  the  consumption  of  time 
on  the  part  of  the  speakers,  and  of  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of 


406  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  audience  on  what  at  this  distance  seems  trivial  and  un 
important,  Lincoln  did  not  let  his  audience  lose  sight  of  the 
main  issue.  He  said : 

"If  Kansas  should  sink  to-day,  and  leave  a  great  vacant  place  in 
the  earth's  surface,  this  vexed  question  would  still  be  among  us.  ... 
I  do  not  suppose  that  in  the  most  peaceful  way  ultimate  extinction 
[of  slavery]  would  occur  in  less  than  a  hundred  years  at  last;  but  that 
it  will  occur  in  the  best  way  for  both  races,  in  God's  own  good  time, 
I  have  no  doubt." 

The  tremendous  mental  activity,  the  brain  storm  that  then 
raged,  is  curiously  suggested  by  the  things  that  did  not  get 
themselves  said;  by  the  material  that  was  crowded  out,  the 
fragments  that  were  left  over,  enough  to  fill  more  than  the 
twelve  baskets.  The  collectors  of  Lincoln's  words  have 
dumped  in  between  the  Charleston  and  Galesburg  speeches 
fifteen  pages  of  curious  matter,  under  the  strangely  character 
istic  head  of  "Fragments,"  showing  that  even  with  Lincoln, 
and  doubtless  with  Douglas,  as  with  the  rest  of  us,  the  best 
things  often  did  not  get  themselves  said.  Let  me  pass  on  to 
a  changed  audience  what  Lincoln  had  probably  planned  to 
say,  but  had  not  time  to  give : 

"'Give  to  him  that  is  needy'  is  the  Christian  rule  of  charity; 
'Take  from  him  that  is  needy'  is  the  rule  of  slavery. 

"The  .  .  .  pro-slavery  theology  seems  to  be  this:  'Slavery  is  not 
universally  right,  nor  yet  universally  wrong;  it  is  better  for  some  people 
to  be  slaves;  and,  in  such  cases,  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  they  be  such.' 

"The  Rev.  Dr.  Ross  has  a  slave  named  Sambo,  and  the  question  is, 
'Is  it  the  will  of  God  that  Sambo  should  remain  a  slave,  or  be  set  free?' 
While  he  considers  it,  he  sits  in  the  shade,  with  gloves  on  his  hands, 
and  subsists  on  the  bread  that  Sambo  is  earning  in  the  burning  sun. 
If  he  decides  that  God  wills  Sambo  to  be  free,  he  thereby  has  to  walk 
out  of  the  shade,  throw  off  his  gloves,  and  delve  for  his  own  bread. 

"When  Judge  Douglas  ascribes  such  [logic]  to  me  he  does  so  ... 
by  such  fantastic  arrangements  of  words  as  prove  'horse  chestnuts  to 
be  chestnut  horses.' 

"I  claim  no  extraordinary  exemption  from  personal  ambition.  That 
I  like  preferment  as  well  as  the  average  of  men  may  be  admitted. 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  407 

But  I  protest  I  have  not  entered  upon  this  hard  contest  solely,  or  even 
chiefly,  for  a  merely  personal  object.  ...  I  enter  upon  the  contest 
to  contribute  my  humble  and  temporary  mite  in  opposition  to  that 
effort  [to  make  slavery  universal  and  perpetual  in  this  nation]. 

"The  negro  being  doomed,  and  damned,  and  forgotten,  to  everlasting 
bondage,  is  the  white  man  quite  certain  that  the  tyrant  demon  will 
not  turn  upon  him  too?" 

What  a  pity  this  sentence  did  not  get  itself  uttered  on 
every  one  of  the  seven  platforms  in  that  great  debate : 

"To  give  the  victory  to  the  right,  not  bloody  bullets,  but  peaceful 
ballots  only  are  necessary.  Thanks  to  our  good  old  Constitution,  and 
organization  under  it,  these  alone  are  necessary.  It  only  needs  that 
every  right-thinking  man  shall  go  to  the  polls,  and  without  fear  or 
prejudice  vote  as  he  thinks." 

Now,  then,  let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter, 
the  summing  up  of  this  debate  between  the  great  politician 
and  the  great  prophet,  as  the  prophet  saw  it  and  stated  in  the 
closing  speech  at  Alton : 

"That  is  the  real  issue.  This  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in 
this  country  when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself 
shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  two  principles 
— right  and  wrong — throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  two  princi 
ples  that  have  stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time;  and 
will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the  common  right  of  hu 
manity,  and  the  other  the  divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  the  same  prin 
ciple  in  whatever  shape  it  develops  itself.  It  is  the  same  spirit  that 
says,  'You  toil  and  work  and  earn  bread,  and  I  '11  eat  it.'  No  mat 
ter  in  what  shape  it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a  king  who 
seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of  his  own  nation  and  live  by  the  fruit 
of  their  Iabor2  or  from  one  race  of  men  as  an  apology  for  enslaving 
another  race,  it  is  the  same  tyrannical  principle.  I  was  glad  to  ex 
press  my  gratitude  at  Quincy,  and  I  re-express  it  here  to  Judge 
Douglas — that  he  looks  to  no  end  of  the  institution  of  slavery.  That 
will  help  the  people  to  see  where  the  struggle  really  is.  It  will  here 
after  place  with  us  all  men  who  really  do  wish  the  wrong  may  have 
an  end.  And  whenever  we  can  get  rid  of  the  fog  which  obscures  the 
real  question,  when  we  can  get  Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends  to  avow 
a  policy  looking  to  its  perpetuation,  we  can  get  out  from  among  them 
that  class  of  men  and  bring  them  to  the  side  of  those  who  treat  it  as  a 
wrong." 


408  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Thus  closed  the  great  debate,  the  best  sustained,  most  con 
spicuous,  most  intellectual,  and  most  ethical  contest  of  intel 
lect  and  personality  on  a  popular  platform  known  in  history. 
As  predicted,  Lincoln  lost  the  senatorship,  though  he  had 
gained  a  popular  majority  of  four  thousand.  Of  course,  he 
was  disappointed.  He  said  he  "felt  like  the  boy  who  had 
stubbed  his  toe — it  hurt  too  much  to  laugh  and  he  was  too 
big  to  cry. ' '  But  Lincoln  bargained  for  his  defeat ;  in  part, 
at  least,  he  knew  what  he  was  doing.  "I  would  rather  be 
beaten  with  that  in  the  speech  than  to  succeed  with  it  ex 
punged,  ' '  was  his  word  concerning  the  * '  house-divided-against- 
itself"  passage.  Of  the  mischievous  questions  at  Freeport, 
against  which  his  sagacious  political  friends  counselled,  he 
said:  "I  am  for  larger  game  than  the  senatorship."  It  is 
generally  supposed  that  at  that  time  his  eye  was  on  the  presi 
dential  campaign  of  two  years  later.  I  suspect  his  thought 
was  less  personal ;  that  he  had  in  mind  the  clearing  up  of  the 
issue,  the  forcing  of  the  main  battle,  that  being  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  freedom. 

In  the  February  following,  the  "Sad  Humorist  of  the 
Sangamon"  stood  in  the  lime-light  of  the  nations,  as  he  deliv 
ered  the  Cooper  Institute  Address.  Men  of  letters,  the  leaders 
in  culture  and  statesmanship  of  New  York  city,  listened  with 
bated  breath  to  the  riverman  of  the  West,  the  awkward  lawyer 
of  the  prairies.  The  peroration  of  that  masterpiece  in 
American  statesmanship  indicated  the  logic  by  means  of 
which  he  had  won  the  hearts  as  well  as  the  brains  of  the 
noblest  in  America,  the  lance  by  which  he  unhorsed  his 
chivalric  opponent  in  the  great  tournament,  the  road  upon 
which  he  travelled  to  his  triumph : 

"Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  accusations 
against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces  of  destruction  to  the 
government,  nor  of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that 
right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our 
duty  as  we  understand  it." 

The  Chicago  papers,  then  as  now,  displayed  commendable 
enterprise  as  news-gatherers.  The  Lincoln  speeches  were 
stenographically  reported  in  full  in  the  columns  of  The  Chi- 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  409 

cago  Tribune,  and  those  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  The  Chi 
cago  Times,  but  when,  two  years  later,  Lincoln  was  anxious 
to  make  campaign  uses  of  them  in  the  greater  race,  Chicago 
enterprise  halted;  the  vision  of  the  newspaper  man  was 
blurred.  No  publisher  dared  make  the  necessary  investment, 
and  so  the  obscure  printing  firm  of  Follett,  Foster  &  Co., 
of  Columbus,  Ohio,  dared  and  reaped  a  golden  harvest. 
Edition  after  edition  was  called  for;  the  press  was  busy 
night  and  day  in  supplying  the  demand,  and  happy  is  the 
heart  of  the  collector  who  can  to-day  secure  a  copy  of  the 
plain,  unpretentious  "first  edition/'  which  sold  for  fifty 
cents,  for  as  many  dimes. 

What  a  great  interpreter  is  Time!  How  the  half-century 
has  cleared  up  things,  brought  out  the  outlines  that  were 
dim  in  the  shadows !  No  one  at  this  distance  thinks  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  a  bad  man.  He  was  not  in  love  with  treason  nor 
in  his  heart  allied  to  slavery;  he  was  simply  a  victim  of  his 
inheritance  and  his  environment,  unable  to  discriminate  clearly 
between  things  transient  and  things  permanent ;  between  popu 
larity  and  power ;  between  success  and  truth ;  between  what  is 
right  and  what  is  expedient.  He  lived  long  enough,  thank 
Heaven!  to  be  tutored  of  circumstances  into  the  better  way. 
The  lightning  flashes  through  the  battle  storm  enabled  him  to 
see  things  clear,  which  the  bright  sunlight  of  peace  had  hid 
from  his  view.  He  lived  to  hold  his  opponent's  hat  while  he 
took  the  presidential  oath  of  office,  administered  by  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  author  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  which  the 
new  President  so  loathed,  and  which,  under  the  mysterious 
providence  of  God,  he  was  to  overrule  and  reverse,  to  the 
surprise  and  admiration  of  the  civilized  world.  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  lived  long  enough  to  hurry  to  the  President's  side 
before  the  smoke  of  rebel  guns  had  cleared  from  over  Sump- 
ter,  and  help  kindle  the  fires  of  patriotism  and  loyalty  in 
his  own  Illinois  and  throughout  the  entire  North.  He  lived 
long  enough  to  say,  "There  are  but  two  parties  now,  patriots 
and  traitors,"  and  with  his  dying  breath  to  whisper,  "Teach 
my  boys  to  obey  the  laws  and  to  uphold  the  Constitution. ' ' 

The  years  have  dispelled  the  shadows  out  of  which  the 


410  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

great  Lincoln  emerged.  We  now  know  that  in  him  the  law 
of  heredity  was  not  tricked.  If,  as  the  poet  has  sung,  he 
was  cast  in  a  "new  mold/'  it  was  the  mold  made  out  of 
materials  fused  in  the  seething  caldron  we  call  "history." 
We  now  know  that  in  the  veins  of  Abraham  Lincoln  flowed 
the  blood  of  noble  ancestry.  His  is  a  name  that  reaches 
back  to  the  proud  shire  in  England  that  bears  it;  a  name 
that  reaches  into  the  noble  crowd  that  overflowed  the  jail 
and  filled  the  Guild  Hall  in  Norwich  because  they  would  not 
accept  a  ritual  prepared  for  them  by  bishops  without  their 
consent.  Nancy  Hanks,  the  most  neglected  woman  in  Amer 
ican  history,  was  a  gentle  lady  by  descent.  Thomas  Lincoln, 
the  carpenter,  though  early  orphaned  in  the  wild  woods  by 
a  treacherous  Indian's  bullet,  was  man  enough  to  rescue  his 
fortune  from  the  bottom  of  the  Ohio  River;  to  build  with  his 
own  hands  five  or  more  homes;  and  with  his  axe  and  whip- 
saw  convert  the  sycamore  tree  into  lumber,  and  the  lumber 
into  the  coffin  that  was  to  encase  the  perishable  portion  of 
the  wife  that  bore  to  the  world  the  noblest  of  Presidents, 
the  greatest  American. 

The  same  day  that  the  child  was  born  in  that  log  cabin 
without  floor  in  the  wild  woods  of  a  new  country,  the  child 
of  humble  parents,  without  tradition  and  without  culture, 
there  was  born  another  babe  in  a  stately  English  home  around 
which  gathered  the  inherited  traditions  of  respectability,  cul 
ture  and  accumulated  wealth.  He  was  the  child  of  favored 
ancestry,  born  to  financial  ease  as  the  other  was  to  poverty. 
He  was  born  to  the  school,  college  and  university  privilege. 
According  to  his  own  estimate,  he  had  too  many  of  the  oppor 
tunities  that  were  denied  to  the  child  of  the  backwoodsman, 
but  he,  too,  was  stirred  with  the  divine  passion  which  he  as 
little  understood  as  did  the  lad  of  the  clearings.  He,  too, 
was  moved  with  the  thirst  for  knowledge,  felt  the  sublimity 
of  nature,  rejoiced  in  the  solitudes  of  the  forest  and  heard 
the  cry  of  the  depressed.  It  is  a  long  social  distance  from 
the  voyager  on  Her  Majesty's  ship  the  Beagle,  equipped 
with  all  the  appliances  and  comforts  then  known  to  science, 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  411 

to  the  raft  that  floated  down  the  Mississippi  River  with  its 
load  of  such  truck  as  pioneers  had  to  barter — 

"Tell  Nancy  to  make  me  twelve  instead  of  eight  shirts.  Tell  Ed 
ward  to  send  me  up  in  my  carpet-bag  (he  can  slip  the  key  in  the  bag 
tied  to  some  strings)  my  slippers,  a  pair  of  lightish  walking  shoes, 
my  Spanish  books,  my  new  microscope  (about  six  inches  long  and 
three  or  four  deep)  which  must  have  cotton  stuffed  inside;  and  my 
geological  compass." 

So  wrote  the  English  boy  to  his  sister.  The  voyager  of  the 
Mississippi  was  barefooted.  A  coonskin  cap,  buckskin 
breeches  for  cold,  and  a  blue  jeans  jumper  for  hot  days,  con 
stituted  his  wardrobe. 

How  wide  the  distance  between  these  twin  children  of 
destiny,  thrown  out  of  the  tardy  womb  of  time  in  one  day 
and  offered  as  one  gift,  measureless  and  incomparable,  of 
time  to  eternity.  One  of  these  became  a  great  prophet  of 
nature,  the  other  a  great  prophet  of  human  nature.  One 
delved  deep  into  the  secrets  of  the  life  in  plant  and  animal; 
the  other  sank  his  plummet  into  the  profounder  depths  of  the 
human  heart.  One,  by  slow  and  patient  search  sought  out 
the  secrets  of  life;  and  the  other,  by  bold  adventure,  sought 
to  measure  and  advance  the  social  forces  that  make  for 
human  weal  and  human  liberty.  The  one,  when  a  boy  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  surmised  that  he  would  never 
need  to  earn,  and  so  his  interest  in  medicine  as  a  calling  ran 
low.  He  attributed  his  subsequent  achievements  to  the  fact 
that  he  never  had  to  agonize  for  bread.  Says  'John  Fiske  in 
this  connection: 

"A  man  of  science  should  never  be  called  upon  to  earn  a  living, 
for  that  is  a  wretched  waste  of  energy  in  which  the  highest  intel 
lectual  power  is  sure  to  suffer  serious  detriment  and  runs  a  risk  of 
being  frittered  away  into  hopeless  ruin." 

The  other  lad  knew  all  the  bitterness  of  poverty  and  the 
anxiety  of  wants. 

These  twins  of  destiny  climbed  the  heights  of  fame  to 
gether.  Both  won  the  crown  that  belongs  to  helpers  of  men, 


412  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

servants  of  truth.  Let  no  one  ask  which  service  was  more 
acceptable  to  God  or  of  most  value  to  man,  for  the  wide  reach 
of  human  need  calls  for  both  services,  and  history  will  place 
upon  the  brow  of  each  the  radiant  crown  that  belongs  to 
those  who  have  broken  fetters,  and  humanity  will  glory  in 
the  freedom  bought  through  the  vicarious  sufferings  of  both. 
One  broke  the  shackles  of  ignorance  and  bigotry,  which  chain 
the  mind ;  the  other,  the  cruel  fetters  that  bind  the  limbs  and 
make  marketable  property  of  men  and  women.  One  heard 
the  sobs  of  the  slave  calling  in  Brazil,  and  the  other's  heart 
waxed  hot  over  the  humiliations  of  the  human  auction-block 
in  New  Orleans.  Each  in  his  own  way  became  an  emancipator 
of  men. 

As  yet  the  circle  of  human  development  is  so  broken  that 
these  twins  of  destiny  must  needs  be  born  far  apart  though 
at  the  same  moment  of  time.  But  when  humanity  becomes 
full  orbed,  may  we  not  believe  that  it  will  produce  in  a 
single  personality  the  patience  of  the  one  with  the  eloquence 
of  the  other;  give  to  one  life  the  culture  of  the  universities 
and  the  health  of  the  backwoodsman,  so  that  the  man  of 
science  will  not  repine  in  his  old  age,  as  this  one  did,  over 
the  loss  of  his  relish  for  poetry,  the  estrangement  from  his 
companions  of  youth,  Milton,  Wordsworth,  and  Shelley;  and 
the  man  of  social  science,  the  statesman  and  the  leader,  will 
not  always  be  impaled  upon  the  cross  of  poverty,  distrust, 
suspicion,  and  envy,  and  at  the  last  wear  the  martyr's 
crown  ? 

Said  the  great  master  of  science : 

"I  never  turn  one  inch  out  of  my  course  to  gain  fame;  I  feel  no 
remorse  for  having  committed  any  great  sin,  but  I  have  often  regretted 
that  I  have  not  done  more  good  direct  to  my  fellow  creatures." 

Said  the  great  Commoner: 

"Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  .  .  . 
dare  to  do  our  duty." 

On  this  one  hundredth  anniversary,  let  us  seek  the  sensi 
tive  conscience,  and  the  stalwart,  that  will  lead  us  on  to  the 
heights  that  will  make  us  worthy  successors  of  these  inspired 


THE  MADISON  COMMEMORATION  413 

prophets  of  progress  which.  God  sent  to  the  world  in  one 
marvellous  creative  impulse,  through  the  gates  of  birth,  on 
the  twelfth  day  of  February,  1809, — Charles  Darwin  and 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

But,  young  men  and  women,  let  us  beware  how  we  waste 
this  day  in  mere  retrospect,  lest  in  our  attempt  to  honor 
the  great  debaters,  we  trail  their  banners  in  the  dust.  We 
belie  our  flattering  words  if,  after  half  a  century,  we  still 
mouth  the  words  of  brotherhood  in  the  presence  of  a  dark 
or  yellow  skin;  if,  in  spite  of  the  five  illuminating  decades, 
we  still  wince  in  the  presence  of  the  inexorable  logic  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  which,  like  the  relentless  mills 
of  God,  grinds  into  powder  the  conceits  of  birth,  station  or 
other  class  distinctions. 

Let  us  beware  lest  we  split  the  sun-clear  rays  of  Jefferson, 
Paine,  and  Lincoln  in  the  cracked  lens  of  social  cowardice, 
commercial  anxieties,  and  political  half-heartedness  as  we 
still  cry,  "Not  yet!  Not  yet!" 

They  who  would  be  eligible  to  a  place  in  the  ranks  of  the 
"Lincoln  Wi de-Awakes"  of  to-day  must  believe  that  the  vir 
tues  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  meant  what  they  said 
and  said  what  they  meant ;  must  believe  that  the  brotherhood 
of  man  includes  all  races,  colors,  and  conditions  of  men,  and 
that  a  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people"  can  be  perpetuated  only  by  heroic  acceptance  of  this 
logic  and  a  sublime  consecration  to  this  ideal.  The  pride 
of  party,  the  greed  of  office,  the  dread  of  change,  and  a  solici 
tation  for  prosperity,  disqualify  men  to-day,  as  fifty  years 
ago,  from  becoming  torchbearers  in  the  advancing  columns 
of  democracy. 

Lincoln's  appeal  was  to  ballots,  not  to  bullets.  "We  may 
not  now  lament  the  bullets,  for  who  will  state  the  price  of 
freedom  to  a  single  human  soul,  however  black  and  illiterate, 
in  terms  of  dollars  or  of  mortality  ?  But  the  bullets  were  in 
cidental  and  lamentable;  the  ballots  are  perpetual  and  in 
evitable.  The  battle  begun  in  1855  is  not  yet  ended.  The 
logic  of  Lincoln  calls  for  a  liberated,  heroic,  extended,  and 
purified  ballot.  As  you  would  love  and  serve  the  country 


414  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  redeemed,  you  must  preserve  the  sanctities  of  the  ballot 
box,  magnify  the  civic  holiness  and  freedom  of  election  day; 
you  must  restrain  the  vicious  and  invite  the  virtuous  ballot 
in  the  hand  of  rich  and  poor,  black  and  white,  male  and 
female.  For  the  right  of  the  governed  to  a  voice  in  the  gov 
ernment  is  dependent  not  upon  sex,  sect,  or  color,  but  upon 
intelligence,  honor,  and  the  willingness  to  serve  the  larger 
entity — the  public  and  its  weal. 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION 

THE  Denver  Centenary  celebration  was  a  notable  one, 
starting  in  at  the  State  House  in  the  morning,  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  suspending  business  and  holding  special  exer 
cises  in  joint  session,  to  which  the  public  was  invited.  Admis 
sion  to  the  lower  floor  was  reserved  for  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  and  their  friends,  and  a  portion  of  the  gallery  was 
reserved  for  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and 
their  wives ;  but  the  rest  of  the  house  was  thrown  open  to  the 
public.  Fine  addresses  were  delivered  by  the  Hon.  John  F. 
Shafroth,  Governor  of  Colorado,  and  by  Senator-Elect  Charles 
J.  Hughes,  Jr.  The  exercises  were  very  impressive,  being 
opened  by  an  Invocation  by  the  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  the 
Reverend  P.  T.  Ramsey,  followed  by  the  vested  boys'  choir  of 
St.  Mark's  Church,  in  a  processional.  A  chorus  of  children 
from  the  Denver  public  schools,  under  the  direction  of  Pro 
fessor  Whiteman,  sang  patriotic  airs,  and  the  Washington 
Post  Veteran  Vocal  Club  had  a  place  upon  the  programme. 
The  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  read  by  the  Clerk  of  the 
Senate,  M.  J.  Smith,  and  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Speech  was 
read  by  the  Reading  Clerk  of  the  House,  Frank  Leary.  The 
Benediction  was  pronounced  by  the  Chaplain  of  the  House. 

This  observance  of  the  day  was  followed  in  the  afternoon 
by  an  imposing  military  parade,  in  which  marched,  side  by 
side,  aged  veterans  of  the  Civil  War,  regular  army  troops,  and 
men  of  the  National  Guard.  The  parade  ended  at  the  vast 
Denver  Auditorium,  into  whose  walls  twelve  thousand  people 
had  crowded  to  offer  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Lincoln.  Here, 
taking  part  in  the  great  chorus  of  national  airs,  were  one 
thousand  school  girls  in  white ;  behind  them  ranged  the  gray- 
haired  veterans  of  the  Civil  War;  and,  still  beyond,  the  blue 
uniforms  of  the  national  standing  army.  Each  company  of 
the  parade  carried  its  flag  into  the  hall,  while  hundreds  of 
*7  417 


418  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

small  flags  waved  in  the  hands  of  spectators.  At  this  vast 
mass  meeting,  Governor  Shafroth  was  again  one  of  the  orators. 
Other  noted  speakers  upon  the  programme  were  Mrs.  Sarah 
Platt  Decker,  Ex-President  of  the  National  Federation  of 
Woman's  Clubs;  E.  L.  Stirman  of  Beauregard  Post,  Veterans 
C.  S.  A. ;  and  Joseph  Farrand  Tuttle,  Jr. 

Many  of  the  city  schools  held  Lincoln  Day  exercises  on  the 
afternoon  of  Thursday,  February  11,  and  on  the  morning  of 
Friday,  February  12.  The  town  was  lavishly  decorated  in  its 
business  section,  the  streets  being  draped  with  bunting  and 
made  bright  with  flags. 

The  Grand  Army  veterans  held  a  special  celebration  on  the 
evening  of  February  12,  which  was  in  charge  of  all  the  Posts 
of  the  city ;  numerous  auxiliary  societies  being  present.  This 
meeting  had  the  flavor  of  the  old  War  time,  with  the  bitter 
ness  abstracted.  The  old  time  patriotic  airs  were  sung,  full 
of  the  memory  of  the  days  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray. 

The  Denver  Centenary  celebration  was  one  of  the  most  en 
thusiastic  in  the  country,  and  was  participated  in  by  the  en 
tire  population.  The  events  of  the  Centenary  Day  in  Den 
ver  proved  that  the  proclamation  of  Governor  Shafroth  and 
of  Mayor  Spear,  regarding  the  day's  fitting  celebration,  had 
found  unreserved  and  enthusiastic  response  in  the  heart  of 
every  citizen. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:     THE  PERFECT  RULER  OF 

MEN 

JOSEPH   FAERAND  TUTTLE,   JR. 

IT  is  said  that  when  the  sun  is  at  its  zenith,  the  huge  tow 
ering  form  of  Mont  Blanc  is  reflected  in  a  little  pool  at 
its  base.  Even  so  is  the  great  Abraham  Lincoln  in  our  hearts 
to-day.  We  love  him  not  only  as  the  great  President,  the 
great  statesman,  the  great  martyr,  the  great  Emancipator 
of  a  race  whose  representatives  here  in  this  service  to-day  and 
all  over  the  world,  are  bowing  in  loving  worship  at  his  shrine, 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  419 

but  we  love  him  because  he  is  the  great  Master  of  men — the 
Perfect  Ruler  of  men — who  in  his  humble  birth  and  in  his 
magic  power  to  charm  the  hearts  of  men,  has  made  all  the 
dearer  to  us  the  story  of  Bethlehem's  wayside  inn  two  thou 
sand  years  ago. 

As  those  three  swarthy  lords  from  the  Orient  hills  paid 
their  loving  homage  to  the  Child  in  the  manger  that  first 
Christmas  morning,  so  there  were  "wise  men"  at  Washing 
ton  in  1860  who  laid  their  gifts  of  gold,  frankincense,  and 
myrrh  at  the  feet  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  child  of  the 
West. 

I  suppose  the  most  powerful  body  of  men  ever  associated 
in  American  history,  was  President  Lincoln's  Cabinet  in  the 
first  year  of  his  administration.  There  was  William  H. 
Seward,  the  ablest  diplomatist  of  his  age;  Edward  Bates  of 
Missouri,  that  wily  political  chief  of  the  old  Whig  school; 
Salmon  P.  Chase  of  Ohio,  courtly,  able,  dignified,  polished. 
These  three  men  had  been  Lincoln's  active  opponents  at  Chi 
cago  for  the  nomination  in  1860,  and  with  the  instinct  of  a 
perfect  ruler  he  gathered  them  in  his  Cabinet,  that  no  dis 
sensions  might  arise  among  them  to  imperil  the  country. 
Then  there  were  those  great  lawyers  of  Indiana,  Caleb  B. 
Smith,  and  John  P.  Upsher ;  Montgomery  Blair,  the  leader  of 
the  Maryland  Bar;  Gideon  Welles  of  Connecticut;  Edwin 
M.  Stanton — a  fiery  eight-in-hand  they  were,  some  of  them 
having  never  worked  in  harness  before — that  is  having  never 
held  office  before — with  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  box.  They 
pulled  up  evenly  on  the  bit  at  the  start;  but  from  the  slack 
rein  over  their  backs,  each  soon,  to  change  the  figure,  imagined 
that  around  himself  and  his  department,  was  whirling  the 
grotesque  Abraham  Lincoln  like  an  attending  satellite.  Sec 
retary  Seward  was  the  first  to  have  his  mind  disabused  of 
this  impression,  as  one  day  he  received  a  touch  with  the  whip 
on  the  flank.  And  he  looked  around  and  wondered  if  the 
man  on  the  box  meant  it.  He  certainly  did. 

It  happened  in  this  way.  One  day  Mr.  Seward  said  to 
Lincoln,  "Now,  you  have  this  great  war  on  your  hands, 
you  attend  to  home  matters,  and  I  will  look  after  our  foreign 


420  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

relations."  And  I  can  imagine  Abraham  Lincoln  laughing 
one  of  those  loud  western  prairie  laughs  of  his,  such  as  John 
Hay  tells  us  of,  as  he  said,  "What  a  capital  idea,  Seward; 
what  a  team  we  '11  make !  But  say ! ' ' — as  Mr.  Seward  was 
about  leaving  him,  perhaps  thinking  in  his  heart  what  easy 
game  he  had  made  of  Abraham  Lincoln — "Don't  forget  to 
show  me  everything  you  receive,  and  particularly  every 
thing  you  send  away. ' '  And  that  was  all. 

Members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  you  will 
remember  when  you  enlisted  in  1861  and  went  down  to 
bloody  battlefields  that  the  Republic  might  live,  our  relations 
were  very  much  strained  with  England.  The  whole  North 
was  greatly  shocked  when  a  Cunard  steamer  arrived  in  New 
York  one  morning  in  the  first  week  of  May,  1861,  with  the 
published  proclamation  of  Queen  Victoria's  recognition  of 
the  belligerency  of  the  Confederate  States.  It  was  a  severe 
blow  to  Lincoln  and  Seward,  and  it  was  then  necessary  for 
Mr.  Seward  to  make  good  his  suggestions  and  write  his 
first  important  state  paper,  viz.,  a  letter  of  instructions  to 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  our  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St. 
«Tames.  It  was  such  a  delicate  task  that  he  did  not  submit  it 
in  dictation  to  a  clerk,  but  wrote  it  all  out  carefully  with  his 
own  hand  in  thirteen  closely  written  pages.  Remembering 
Lincoln's  little  caution,  he  went  to  the  White  House  with  it, 
to  have  Lincoln  put  his  official  "0.  K."  upon  it.  Now  the 
condition  of  that  letter  as  Lincoln  returned  it  always  reminds 
me  of  what  I  used  to  hear  the  good  people  of  Cambridge  say 
of  Rufus  Choate's  signature — "a  gridiron  struck  by  light 
ning."  Section  after  section  of  Mr.  Seward 's  letter  had  been 
stricken  out;  many  words — even  whole  sentences — were 
erased,  and  new  ones  substituted;  in  some  places  the  white 
spaces  between  the  lines  were  entirely  absorbed  with  the 
interlineation  of  new  sentences;  beautiful  flowers  of  rhetoric 
were  ruthlessly  torn  up  by  the  roots.  And  then,  what  do 
you  think!  This  humble  backwoodsman  who  had  been 
cradled  in  a  hollowed-out  log — whose  only  schooling  had 
been  the  winter  evenings  before  the  rude  fireplace,  where, 
in  the  absence  of  any  candles  or  of  old  rags  soaked  in  oil, 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  4*i 

his  mother  had  taught  him  and  his  father  to  read  and 
write  in  the  blaze  of  the  spice-wood  brush  he  had  chopped  up 
and  thrown  upon  the  fire,  and  where,  stretched  out  upon 
the  rough,  gritty,  dirt  floor,  he  would  cipher  upon  an  old 
wooden  shovel  with  a  bit  of  charred  wood  picked  from  the 
fireplace,  and  say  to  himself  "I  '11  study  and  get  ready,  and 
then  maybe  the  chance  will  come" — what  do  you  think  of 
this  humble  backwoodsman  criticising  the  English  of  the 
accomplished,  the  versatile,  the  scholarly  William  H.  Seward 
and  actually  showing  him  that  in  some  places  he  had  not 
even  expressed  his  own  meaning! 

William  H.  Seward  had  a  very  little  body  but  a  very  big 
brain  and  a  very  big  heart  of  love  for  his  country,  but  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  feathers  were  standing  out  at  right 
angles  all  over  his  little  body,  when  he  wrote  this  sentence 
of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams:  "We  intend  to  have  a  clear  and 
simple  record  of  every  issue  which  may  arise  between  us 
and  Great  Britain."  Lincoln  bracketed  the  paragraph  and 
wrote  in  the  margin,  "Leave  out."  Mr.  Seward  wrote, 
"The  President  is  surprised  and  grieved";  Lincoln  changed  it 
to  "The  President  regrets."  Mr.  Seward  referred  to  certain 
acts  of  Great  Britain  as  "wrongful";  Lincoln  changed  it  to 
4 '  hurtful. ' '  Mr.  Seward  made  reference  to  certain  explanations 
made  by  the  British  government;  Lincoln  wrote,  "Leave  out, 
because  it  does  not  appear  that  such  explanations  were  de 
manded" — just  a  jog  to  Mr.  Seward 's  memory.  Mr.  Seward 
wrote  learnedly  of  "the  laws  of  nature";  Lincoln  ran  his 
pen  through  the  expression  "laws  of  nature,"  and  wrote 
"our  own  laws" — good,  honest  United  States  laws  were  all 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  looking  for  in  those  days.  Mr.  Seward 
wrote,  "The  laws  of  nations  afford  us  an  adequate  and 
proper  remedy,  and  we  shall  avail  ourselves  of  it" — an  im 
plied  threat,  you  see;  Lincoln  wrote  opposite  the  last  part 
of  the  sentence  in  the  margin  "Out."  Mr.  Seward  elaborated 
a  thought  in  seven  particular  words,  and  Lincoln  ran  his  pen 
through  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six  of  those  words  and  left 
only  one  word  as  having  sufficient  carrying  power  to  designate 
Mr.  Seward 's  meaning.  Mr.  Seward  wrote  "Europe  atoned 


422  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

by  forty  years  of  suffering  for  the  crime  Great  Britain  had 
committed ' ' ;  and  Lincoln  changed  the  crime  to  ' '  error. ' ' 

Mr.  Seward  must  have  had  a  whole  basketful  of  chips  on 
his  shoulder  when  he  wrote  this  sentence,  which  if  allowed 
to  remain,  would  undoubtedly  have  precipitated  a  war  with 
Great  Britain: 

"When  this  act  of  intervention  is  distinctively  performed,  we  from 
that  hour  shall  cease  to  be  friends  and  become  once  more,  as  we  have 
twice  before  been  forced  to  be,  enemies  of  Great  Britain." 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  Lincoln  tried  to  save  a  little  out 
of  the  wreck  of  this  paragraph,  to  save  Mr.  Seward 's  feel 
ings,  but  he  finally  gave  it  up,  and  obliterated  the  whole 
paragraph.  And  so  all  through  this  remarkable  state  paper, 
the  great  master  of  rhetorical  art,  with  rare  literary  dis 
crimination  and  fine  appreciation  of  the  shadings  of  words, 
extracted  the  sting  of  implied  censure  out  of  Mr.  Seward 's 
words. 

Now,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  with  that  letter  as  originally 
written  by  Mr.  Seward,  would  have  been  a  bluffer  and  a 
bully,  with  his  mouth  full  of  threats,  before  the  English 
court.  But  with  it,  as  corrected  by  this  log  cabin  genius  of 
'belles-lettres,  he  was  a  far  different  man.  He  read  that 
letter  as  if  it  had  been  his  Bible,  till  he  became  saturated 
through  and  through  with  the  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
From  it  he  learned  to  be  tactful,  patient,  long-suffering, 
"hoping  all  things,  enduring  all  things,"  having  the  power 
and  gift  of  silence,  the  power  of  saying  nothing  when  there 
was  nothing  to  say,  or  rather,  like  the  great  Master  at  Wash 
ington,  of  saying  nothing  that  had  better  be  left  unsaid — 
qualities  he  sorely  needed  for  a  great  trial  that  was  to  come. 

At  that  time,  at  Birkenhead  on  the  Mersey,  just  opposite 
Liverpool,  two  powerful  armored  cruisers  were  being  built 
by  private  British  capital,  destined,  so  Mr.  Adams'  secret 
agents  informed  him,  to  be  delivered  to  the  Confederacy  at 
a  certain  secret  island  in  the  West  Indies,  and  there  to  be 
turned  loose  to  harry  and  scourge  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  from  the  high  seas,  as  the  Alabama  and  Shen- 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  423 

andoah  did  two  years  later.  There  was  no  more  critical 
moment  in  the  Civil  War.  Intervention  or  non-intervention 
on  the  one  hand,  and  a  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  on  the  other,  all  depended  on  the  wisdom  of 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  three  thousand  miles  away  from 
his  home  government  and  instructions,  and  with  no  Atlantic 
cable  between  the  two  countries  at  that  time.  It  was  for  this 
moment  that  the  Perfect  Ruler  at  Washington  had  corrected 
that  letter,  whose  wise,  noble,  and  large  spirit  were  so  in 
carnated  in  the  bearing  of  Mr.  Adams,  that  finally  the  British 
ministers,  wise  men  also  with  gifts  in  their  hands,  made  this 
fair  proposition  to  Mr.  Adams :  '  *  If  you  will  deposit  one  mil 
lion  pounds  sterling  with  the  British  government  as  indem 
nity  against  possible  suits  that  may  be  instituted  against  it 
by  these  private  capitalists,  we  will  not  allow  these  ships  to 
sail." 

When  Mr.  Adams  returned  to  his  office  that  day,  there 
was  a  knock  at  his  office  door,  and  upon  opening  it  he  looked 
into  the  face  of  a  man  whose  name,  at  the  man's  request,  he 
refused  to  divulge  to  the  day  of  his  death — a  fellow  Massa 
chusetts  citizen,  a  banker  in  London.  And  he  said  to  Mr. 
Adams,  "I  know  all  about  it.  Here  are  one  million  pounds 
sterling  in  gold  certificates  deposited  in  various  banks  in 
London.  Deposit  them  to  the  credit  of  the  United  States." 
A  few  days  afterwards,  Mr.  Adams  deposited  those  particu 
lar  one  million  pounds  sterling  with  the  British  government 
as  the  indemnity  they  had  asked,  and  those  two  armored 
cruisers  never  sailed  from  the  banks  of  the  Mersey.  The 
swords  that  had  been  unsheathed  in  America  and  England, 
were  returned  to  their  scabbards,  because  the  pen  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  was  mightier  than  the  sword. 

As  I  think  of  Charles  Francis  Adams  in  those  critical 
moments  at  the  English  court,  I  always  think  of  what  the 
King  said  to  his  wise  counsellors  after  he  had  cast  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego  into  the  fiery  furnace,  "Did  not 
we  cast  three  men  into  the  fiery  furnace,  and  behold  I  see 
four  men  walking  there,  and  the  form  of  the  fourth  is  like 
unto  the  Son  of  God  ? "  Oh !  it  was  Abraham  Lincoln  walk- 


424  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ing  with  Charles  Francis  Adams  before  the  English  court 
in  those  troublous  days  of  1861 ! 

But  how  about  that  other  wheel  horse  of  that  team,  that 
fiery,  mettlesome  creature,  Edwin  M.  Stanton?  Would  the 
man  on  the  box  dare  to  touch  him  with  the  whip — nay,  would 
he  dare  even  to  allow  the  silken  lash  to  rest  upon  his  back 
ever  so  lightly?  The  beginning  of  the  acquaintance  and 
the  subsequent  friendship  of  these  two  men  for  each  other, 
is  to  me  the  great  romance  of  the  Civil  War  period,  and  I 
believe  that  around  it  will  be  woven  the  great  American  his 
torical  novel.  About  1857  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  of  Chicago, 
brought  suit  against  a  man  by  the  name  of  Manney  for  alleged 
infringement  of  the  McCormick  Harvester  Reaper  patent 
rights.  The  latter  engaged  Lincoln  to  defend.  The  case 
was  tried  in  the  United  States  District  court  at  Cincinnati, 
and  without  consulting  Lincoln  as  senior  counsel,  the  parties 
there  employed  as  local  counsel  a  man  by  the  name  of  Edwin 
M.  Stanton.  It  pained  Lincoln  not  a  little.  Stanton 's  treat 
ment  of  Lincoln  was  brutal  from  start  to  finish;  and  he 
frequently  alluded  to  Lincoln  as  "my  long-armed  friend 
from  Illinois."  It  was  Lincoln's  right  as  senior  counsel  to 
make  the  closing  legal  arguments  in  the  case.  Of  course  he 
knew  that  the  great  George  H.  Harding  of  Philadelphia 
would  make  the  closing  mechanical  argument.  Lincoln  for 
months  had  been  preparing  that  final  argument  in  the  case, 
as  a  door  he  would  throw  open  to  make  himself  more  widely 
known  in  the  United  States.  But  he  listened  in  vain  for 
Stanton  to  suggest  that  he,  Lincoln,  make  that  argument ;  and 
finally,  to  relieve  the  embarrassment,  was  obliged  to  sug 
gest  that  Stanton  make  that  closing  argument.  To  his 
great  chagrin  and  mortification,  Mr.  Stanton  eagerly  ac 
cepted  that  suggestion.  It  was  a  very  great  disappointment 
to  Lincoln.  Don't  you  remember  those  beautiful  words 
written  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson? 
"His  heart  was  as  big  as  the  world,  but  it  could  not  hold 
the  memory  of  a  wrong."  Lincoln  went  away  from  Cincin 
nati  with  no  resentment  in  his  heart. 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  425 

Members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  you  will 
remember,  wherever  you  were — on  the  march,  in  the  camp, 
or  on  the  bloody  battlefield  in  November,  1861 — that  in  that 
month  occurred  the  Trent  affair — that  affair  when  Captain 
Wilkes  with  the  United  States  man-of-war,  the  San  Jacinto, 
threw  a  shot  across  the  bows  of  the  British  mail  steamer, 
the  Trent,  in  the  Carribean  Sea,  hove  her  to,  and  forcibly 
took  from  her  decks  the  two  Commissioners,  Mason  and 
Slidell,  then  on  their  way  to  represent  the  Confederacy  at 
the  Courts  of  Great  Britain  and  France  respectively.  Lin 
coln,  great  lawyer  that  he  was,  deemed  it  a  very  illegal 
procedure,  and  would  gladly  have  given  them  up  could  he 
have  done  so.  He  was  opposed  in  his  views  by  every  mem 
ber  of  his  Cabinet,  equally  great  lawyers  though  they  all 
were.  One  morning  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  called  upon  Lincoln  to  make  a  casual  remark  as 
he  was  leaving  the  room :  *  '  Mr.  Lincoln,  Stanton  is  in  town, 
and  he  says  the  United  States  has  the  clearest  right  to  detain 
those  men,  Mason  and  Slidell,  in  Fort  Warren,  Boston  har 
bor.  "  It  greatly  interested  Lincoln,  and  he  asked  that  Mr. 
Stanton  call,  and  put  that  opinion  in  writing.  Mr.  Stanton 
called  the  next  morning  and  did  as  Lincoln  requested,  and 
just  as  he  was  leaving  the  room,  Lincoln  laid  his  great, 
brawny  hand  upon  his  shoulder.  It  was  the  one  supreme, 
psychological  moment  of  the  whole  Civil  War.  And  this 
was  the  situation :  Stanton  was  of  the  opposite  school  of 
politics  from  Lincoln;  he  was  not  even  a  War  Democrat  at 
that  time;  he  had  been  the  Attorney- General  of  the  United 
States  under  President  James  Buchanan ;  he  had  unmercifully 
criticised  the  first  year  of  President  Lincoln's  administra 
tion;  he  had  gone  so  far  in  his  bitter  hostility  to  Lincoln 
as  to  disrespectfully  refer  to  him  as  "the  great  northern  ape" 
— and  Lincoln  knew  it  all.  But,  charmer  that  he  was  of  the 
hearts  of  men,  Lincoln  said,  *  *  Stanton,  it  makes  no  difference 
to  me  what  you  think  of  me  personally,  but  your  country 
has  need  of  your  services  in  my  Cabinet.  Will  you  accept 
the  portfolio  of  the  War  Department  ? ' '  And  Stanton  broke 


426  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

down,  and  asked  for  a  day  to  consider  the  matter.  He  ac 
cepted,  remained  with  Lincoln  to  the  close  of  the  War,  and 
became  the  greatest  War  Secretary  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Their  relations  with  each  other  were  very  peculiar.  No 
two  natures  more  antipodal,  not  only  in  their  mental  tem 
peraments,  but  in  their  physical  appearance,  ever  met. 
Stanton  was  a  short,  stocky,  John  Morrissey  kind  of  a  man, 
with  his  fighting  face  and  broad  shoulders;  Lincoln  was  tall, 
gaunt,  spare,  angular.  Stanton  was  grim,  brusque,  blunt, 
often  savage  in  his  intercourse  with  men ;  Lincoln  was  always 
mild  and  gentle.  Stanton  was  silent,  secretive,  often  with 
holding  telegrams  at  important  crises;  Lincoln  was  forgiv 
ing,  open,  frank,  and  cordial.  Stanton  was  solemn,  austere, 
severe  in  his  ideals;  Lincoln  was  laughter-loving.  Stanton 
absolutely  saw  no  good  in  any  man  who  had  once  proved 
recreant  to  his  trust;  Lincoln  was  always  saying  "give  the 
man  another  chance." 

It  was  upon  the  question  of  pardoning  so  many  soldiers, 
that  these  two  great  men  battled  royally  with  each  other, 
for  supremacy.  It  had  been  a  running  fight  for  four  years, 
but  permit  me  to  say  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  doing  all  the 
running.  A  few  days  before  the  War  closed,  Mr.  Stanton 
made  his  last  great  stand.  Senator  Henderson  of  Missouri 
was  looking  over  papers  on  his  desk,  and  there  found  papers 
relating  to  the  pardon  of  a  Confederate  soldier  by  the  name 
of  Vaughn — a  spy  who  had  been  taken  within  the  Union 
lines  with  the  goods  on  him.  He  was  tried  by  three  differ 
ent  courts-martial,  found  guilty  each  time,  and  was  at  St. 
Louis  awaiting  execution  of  his  sentence.  Mr.  Henderson 
carried  the  matter  to  Lincoln,  but  was  informed  by  him  that 
it  was  in  Mr.  Stanton 's  department.  Mr.  Henderson  saw 
Mr.  Stanton,  who  informed  him  that  the  case  had  been  tried 
three  times,  and  that  he  would  not  open  it,  and  broadly 
hinted  that  he  would  be  much  obliged  to  him  if  he  would 
not  meddle  with  affairs  in  his  department.  Mr.  Henderson 
then  went  to  Lincoln  with  all  the  papers.  The  kind-hearted 
President  put  on  those  old-fashioned,  big-disced  "specs,"  as 
he  always  called  them,  and  commenced  to  wade  through  the 


o 

OJ 

g 

o 

O 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  427 

voluminous  testimony  of  those  three  trials,  to  find  some  legal 
loophole  of  escape.  There  was  none,  because  the  iron  Sec 
retary  Stanton  and  his  equally  iron  Judge-Advocate-Gen 
eral,  Joseph  Holt,  had  drawn  up  those  papers.  Lincoln  at 
last  jerked  off  his  "specs,"  and  said,  "Now,  Henderson, 
what  's  the  use  of  killing  this  man  ?  There  will  come  no  good 
in  it  of  discipline  to  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  as 
Stanton  says,  because  in  a  few  days  there  will  be  no  armies 
of  the  United  States.  They  all  will  have  melted  back  into 
the  walks  of  civic  life.  This  man  is  a  good  deal  better  man 
for  us  above  ground,  than  under  ground.  There  has  been 
too  much  spilling  of  blood;  we  must  begin  to  save  some  of 
it  now.  You  go  back  and  tell  Stanton  that  he  must  open 
this  case."  When  Mr.  Henderson  reported  this  to  Mr.  Stan- 
ton,  there  was  an  explosion  at  the  War  Office.  The  air  was 
blue  and  sulphurous  from  the  fierce  unevangelical  terms  Mr. 
Stanton  was  using,  as  he  said,  "You  go  back  and  tell  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  that  I  will  not  open  that  case,  even  for  him  as 
President."  Mr.  Henderson  reported  this  at  the  White 
House.  And  then  Lincoln,  the  man  with  the  sad,  haunting, 
melancholy,  patient  face — that  face  in  which  Mrs.  Mary 
Shipton  Andrews  says  there  seemed  to  be  the  "suffering  of 
all  the  sins  of  the  world" — went  to  the  corner  of  the  room 
and  took  down  the  old  gray  shawl,  and  threw  it  over  his 
shoulders.  Oh,  the  poetry  and  romance  of  that  old  gray 
shawl  of  Abraham  Lincoln!  How  often  during  those  four 
years  had  he  thrown  it  over  his  shoulders,  and  carefully 
closed  the  door  of  the  White  House  after  him  at  midnight, 
when  all  supposed  him  asleep,  and  walked  down  that  lonely 
path  to  the  War  Office  to  get  the  latest  news  from  you, 
members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at  the  front,  or 
to  see  if  here  was  not  some  case  where,  by  writing  that  magic 
word  "pardon,"  he  could  bring  gladness  to  some  poor,  suf 
fering  wife  and  children ;  he  always  said  he  slept  better  if  he 
could  do  that.  He  hung  up  the  old,  gray  shawl  upon  arriving 
at  the  War  Office,  on  the  top  of  a  particularly  high  door, 
where  he  always  hung  it.  When  Mr.  Stanton  returned  to  the 
room,  he  caught  sight  of  the  old  gray  shawl,  and  knew  what 


428  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

was  in  store  for  him.  Man  of  hot,  Celtic,  fighting  blood 
that  he  was,  he  rushed  impetuously  into  the  room  to  have 
the  first  word  or  round  with  Lincoln,  as  he  said — and  Oh! 
this  old  wheel  horse  of  the  team  is  rearing  and  plunging 
violently  now.  "I  will  not  open  this  case,  even  for  you  as 
President!"  Lincoln  looked  upon  Stanton  most  longingly 
and  lovingly  even  as  it  is  said  the  Christ  looked  at  the  dis 
ciple  John  and  loved  him.  He  knew  that  Stanton  was  only 
fighting  now  to  save  his  pride;  he  knew  that  Edwin  M. 
Stanton  loved  him  more  than  he  loved  any  other  human  being, 
and  he  merely  said,  so  tenderly  and  soothingly,  as  he  took 
down  the  old  gray  shawl,  "Well,  Stanton,  I  guess  you  '11 
have  to  do  it  this  time,"  and  the  great  battle  was  over  for 
ever. 

A  few  days  after,  John  Wilkes  Booth  fired  the  bullet  that 
ploughed  its  way  through  the  brain  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
They  carried  the  unconscious  President  across  the  street, 
laid  him  upon  the  bed,  and  held  loving  vigil  at  the  bedside  all 
that  night.  During  the  night  the  most  alarming  rumors 
startled  Washington — General  Grant  had  been  killed  in 
New  York!  Vice-President  Johnson  had  been  murdered,- 
Salmon  P.  Chase  had  been  assassinated;  William  H.  Seward 
was  barely  alive  from  the  murderous  dagger-wounds  of  an 
assassin — till  it  seemed  as  if  the  government  of  the  United 
States  was  being  literally  stabbed  to  its  death  that  night. 
With  these  reports  flying  around  Washington,  every  one 
seems  to  have  lost  his  head  that  night  but  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
and  grandly  did  he  prove  himself  to  be  the  man  of  the  hour. 
As  if  he  had  received  a  wireless  from  Abraham  Lincoln,  fast 
disappearing  in  the  mists  of  the  deep  valley,  "The  country, 
Stanton,  the  country,"  Stanton,  shortly  after  midnight,  went 
into  a  little  room  adjoining  the  one  where  the  President  lay 
dying,  called  in  his  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  Charles  A. 
Dana,  with  a  corps  of  telegraphers,  and  dictated  orders,  as 
Mr.  Dana  says,  "necessary  to  carry  on  the  government." 
Stanton  sent  telegrams  to  all  the  Generals  in  the  field,  South, 
West,  and  Southwest ;  then  to  all  the  great  cities  of  the  North ; 
then  to  all  the  country  where  there  were  wires  to  carry  them 


THE  DENVER  COMMEMORATION  429 

— telegrams  of  hope,  assurance,  and  confidence  that  though 
the  beloved  President  was  dying,  the  Republic  would  live! 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  had  laid  his  iron  hand  upon  our  country 
that  night,  and  when  the  sun  walked  ''forth  with  steps  of 
fire"  from  the  golden  gates  that  morning  of  April  fifteenth, 
1865,  the  government  at  Washington  was  safe. 

But  all  that  night  the  beautiful  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  gradually  ebbing  itself  away,  till,  at  twenty-two  minutes 
after  seven  o'clock  that  morning  of  April  fifteenth,  1865, 
Surgeon-General  Barnes,  who  had  been  sitting  upon  the  bed 
all  night  with  the  dear  hand  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  his, 
suddenly  announced  the  last  beat  of  the  pulse.  In  the  solemn, 
the  awful  hush  of  that  moment,  when  all  realized  that  the 
beautiful  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln  had  taken  its  return 
flight  to  God,  Edwin  M.  Stanton — and  his  words  shall  be  the 
city  of  Denver's  tribute  of  affection  to  his  memory  to-day — 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  walked  to  the  bedside,  and,  affectionately 
stroking  the  face  of  his  dead  Chief  with  both  his  hands  and 
wetting  the  silent,  upturned  face  with  his  tears,  said,  between 
his  sobs,  "Here  lies  the  most  perfect  ruler  of  men  the  world 
has  ever  known. " 


THE  WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION 


THE  WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION 

AT  Washington,  the  nation's  capital,  the  day  was  fittingly 
observed,  although  the  President,  Vice-President,  and 
many  other  of  the  prominent  figures  in  the  life  of  the  Capital 
were  upon  the  programmes  of  celebrations  in  other  parts  of 
the  country. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  Thursday,  February 
11,  the  Hon.  Henry  Sherman  Boutell  of  Illinois  delivered  a 
memorial  address,  while  on  the  Centenary  Day  itself,  Mr. 
Boutell  read  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address  from 'the  Speaker's 
chair ;  Representative  Frank  M.  Nye  delivering  an  address  on 
Lincoln. 

The  Senate  passed  a  joint  Resolution  declaring  the  Cen 
tenary  Day  a  special  legal  holiday  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  and  in  the  Territories  of  Alaska,  Arizona,  New  Mexico, 
and  Hawaii,  and  authorizing  the  President  to  issue  a  Proclam 
ation  to  this  effect.  At  all  of  the  schools  of  the  city,  com 
memorative  exercises  took  place;  and  celebrations  were  held 
by  the  United  States  Historical  Society,  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  other  organizations.  One  of  the  most  no 
table  observances  of  the  day  was  the  morning  celebration  at 
Howard  University,  a  University  for  colored  students.  Here 
Hon.  James  R.  Garfield,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  presided, 
representing  the  Government,  as  patron  ex-officio  of  the  Board. 
The  speakers  of  the  day  were  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Gen.  J.  Warren  Kiefer. 
Speaker  Cannon  was  received  with  a  tremendous  hand-clap 
ping  and  cheering,  which  persisted  throughout  his  inspiring 
speech.  The  demonstration  ended  with  what  is  known  to  the 
students  as  the  "  Howard  clap ' ' — a  rhythmical  hand-clapping 
which  ends  with  a  shout.  Gen.  Kiefer  made  the  time  inter 
esting  with  personal  recollections  of  the  days  of  the  Civil 
War.  One  of  the  features  of  the  meeting  was  the  presentation 
*8  433 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  a  painting  by  C.  T.  Webber— "The  Underground  Kail- 
way.  ' '  This  picture  depicts  the  aiding  of  a  fugitive  slave,  and 
contains  the  portraits  of  Levi  and  Catherine  Coffin,  who,  dur 
ing  their  life-time,  assisted  more  than  three  thousand  slaves 
to  escape  from  bondage,  and  whom  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  im 
mortalized  in  her  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin, "  under  the  names  of 
Simeon  and  Eachel  Holladay — the  Quaker  couple  who  helped 
Eliza  Harris  to  freedom.  The  presentation  of  the  picture  was 
made  by  William  E.  Curtis,  the  famous  war  correspondent. 
Another  presentation  was  that  of  a  bronze  tablet  containing 
the  Gettysburg  Address,  which  was  presented  to  the  University 
by  the  Lincoln  Educational  League,  of  which  Levi  P.  Morton 
and  William  Dean  Howells  are  prominent  members. 

At  3 :30  in  the  afternoon,  the  mass-meeting  of  the  day  was 
held  at  the  new  Masonic  Temple.  This  meeting  was  directly 
under  the  charge  of  Henry  B.  F.  Macfarland,  Commissioner  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Cooperating  with  him  were  spe 
cial  committees  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Board 
of  Trade.  The  result  was  a  meeting  vivid  with  interest,  bring 
ing  together  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men  in  one  united 
tribute  to  our  old  War  President. 

Upon  the  platform,  supporting  Commissioner  Macfarland, 
sat  the  former  Commissioners  of  the  District,  the  various  com 
mittees  in  charge,  and  the  heads  of  the  Civil  War  societies. 

The  speakers  were  men  of  national  prominence,  among  them 
being  the  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  the  Southern  writer; 
former  Senator  John  B.  Henderson,  who  penned  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  of  the  Constitution  abolishing  slavery; 
Joaquim  Nabuco,  Ambassador  of  Brazil;  Justice  Wendell 
Phillips  Stafford,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of 
Columbia;  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Butler,  who  was  Chaplain  in  several 
hospitals  in  the  city  during  the  War ;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abram 
Simon,  Rabbi  of  the  Washington  Hebrew  Congregation.  The 
Invocation  was  offered  by  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Chaplain  of 
the  Senate.  Bishop  D.  J.  O'Connell,  Rector  of  the  Catholic 
University,  pronounced  the  Benediction. 

The  speech  of  Thomas  Nelson  Page  was  a  tribute  of  the 


THE  WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION         435 

South  to  the  man  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  North  in  the 
time  of  dissension.  Mr.  Page  expressed  his  appreciation  of 
the  honor  shown  him  in  being  asked  "as  the  Southern  man,  to 
speak  on  this  notable  occasion,  to  celebrate,  here  in  the  Capital 
of  the  nation,  where  he  achieved  his  great  and  abiding  fame, 
the  Centenary  of  the  birth  of  the  man  who,  more  than  any 
other  man  or  group  of  men,  saved  the  nation."  The  closing 
words  of  the  address  of  Mr.  Page,  speaking  of  the  South — 
"But  the  passing  years  are  sweeping  away  the  mist  that  ob 
scured  her  vision,  and  she  is  coming  more  and  more  to  see 
Lincoln  as  he  was,  as  a  great-hearted  and  large-minded  man 
who,  had  he  lived,  might  have  been  her  defender  in  the  hour 
of  her  greatest  trial — whose  last  acts  were  acts  of  kindness, 
and  whose  last  words  were  words  of  good  will  and  peace  to 
ward  the  South  as  well  as  the  North" — were  enthusiastically 
applauded  by  the  great  gathering  which  included  in  its  midst 
a  number  of  Confederate  veterans. 

In  the  evening  of  the  Centenary,  the  Military  Order  of  the 
Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States,  Commandery  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  gave  a  banquet,  about  four  hundred  men 
sitting  down  to  the  table ;  while  the  balcony  was  crowded  with 
women  who  came  to  look  on  at  the  scene  of  festivity.  The 
programme  contained  the  names  of  men  of  national  prom 
inence. 

On  the  same  evening,  the  Central  Labor  Union  met  at  Odd 
Fellows'  Hall  in  honor  of  the  day,  and  here  addresses  were 
made  by  well  known  statesmen,  and  many  labor  leaders, 
including  Samuel  Gompers,  President  of  the  American  Feder 
ation  of  Labor,  and  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  the  "Womans'  Suf 
frage  leader. 


LINCOLN    AND    THE    CHARACTER    OF    AMERICAN 
CIVILIZATION 

HON.   JOAQUIM  NABUCO 

IT  was  not  without  much  hesitation  that  I  accepted  the  in 
vitation  to  speak  by  the  side  of  the  distinguished  men 
chosen  to  address  you  on  this  great  occasion,  but  when  I  was 
told  that  I  would  represent  here  the  sentiment  of  Latin 
America,  I  felt  that  was  a  call  I  could  not  fail  to  answer. 

The  presence  at  this  place  of  any  single  foreign  nation,  in 
the  person  of  its  official  representative,  would  be  a  sufficient 
acknowledgment  that  Lincoln  belongs  to  all  the  world.  But 
there  are  reasons  why  the  other  nations  of  this  continent  feel 
themselves  more  closely  associated  with  him  than  the  rest  of 
the  world,  and  why  they  owe  him  the  greater  gratitude  after 
that  of  the  United  States. 

We  are  bound,  indeed,  to  form  with  you  a  political  moral 
unit,  and  no  man,  after  "Washington,  has  done  more  than 
Lincoln  to  strengthen  the  magnet  that  attracts  us  to  you. 
Washington  created  the  American  freedom;  Lincoln  puri 
fied  it. 

Personally,  I  owe  to  Lincoln,  not  only  the  choice,  but  the 
easy  fulfillment  of  what  I  consider  was  my  task  in  life, 
as  it  was  the  task  of  so  many  others — the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves.  Nobody,  indeed,  could  say  what  would  have 
been  the  struggle  for  abolition  in  Brazil,  if,  past  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  new  and  powerful  nation  had 
sprung  up  in  America,  having  for  its  creed  the  maintenance 
and  the  expansion  of  slavery.  Through  what  Lincoln  did, 
owing  to  the  great  light  he  kindled  for  all  the  world  with  his 
Proclamation,  we  could  win  our  cause  without  a  drop  of  blood 
being  shed.  In  fact,  we  won  it  in  a  national  embrace — the 
slave-owners  themselves,  with  the  lavishness  of  their  letters 

436 


THE  WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION         437 

of  manumission,  emulating  the  action  of  the  laws  of  freedom, 
successively  enacted. 

Lincoln,  like  Washington,  is  one  of  the  few  great  men  in 
history  about  whom  the  moral  sense  of  mankind  is  not  divided. 
His  record  is,  throughout,  one  of  inspiration.  His  part  at 
the  White  House  was  that  of  the  national  Fate.  To-day,  when 
one  looks  from  this  distance  of  time  to  the  fields  of  that  terrible 
Civil  War,  one  sees  in  them,  not  only  the  shortest  cut,  but 
the  only  possible  road,  to  a  common  national  destiny.  I  con 
strue  to  myself  that  War  as  one  of  those  illusions  of  life,  in 
which  men  seem  to  move  of  their  own  free  will,  projected  by 
a  Providence  intent  on  saving  their  nation  from  the  course 
she  was  pursuing.  Nobody  can  say  what  would  have  been 
the  duration  of  slavery,  if  the  Southern  States  had  not  acted 
as  they  did.  By  seceding,  they  doomed  it  to  death  and  saved 
themselves.  In  that  way  the  Secession,  although  a  wholly 
different  episode,  will  have  had  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States  the  same  effect  that  the  secession  of  the  people  to  the 
Sacred  Mount  had  in  the  history  of  Rome,  in  the  early  period 
of  the  Republic — that  is,  that  of  cementing  the  national  unity 
and  of  assuring  the  destiny  of  the  nation  for  centuries  of  ever- 
widening  power. 

Lincoln,  with  the  special  sense  bestowed  by  the  Author  of 
that  great  Play,  upon  one  entrusted  with  its  leading  part, 
saw  distinctly  that  the  South  was  not  a  nation,  and  that  it 
would  not  think  of  being  one,  except  during  the  hallucination 
of  the  crisis.  If  the  South  had  been  a  nation,  the  North, 
with  all  its  strength,  would  not  have  subdued  it.  Neither 
would  the  American  people  care  to  have  a  foreign  nation 
attached  to  its  side  by  conquest;  nor  would  a  coerced  nation, 
after  such  a  bloody  war,  reenter  the  Union  in  the  spirit  of 
staying  forever,  as  did  the  South,  once  the  passion  spent  that 
moved  it  to  secede. 

I  believe  such  was  the  feeling  of  General  Lee  during  the 
whole  campaign;  only  he  could  not  utter  it,  and  the  secret 
died  with  him.  But  only  such  a  feeling  could  have  kept  his 
surrender  free  from  all  bitterness,  as  if  he  had  only  fought 
a  duel  of  honor  for  the  South.  Nothing  is  so  beautiful  to  me 


438  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

in  the  celebration  of  this  first  centenary  of  Lincoln,  as  the 
tributes  of  men  who  represent  the  noblest  spirit  of  the  South. 

I  came  here  to  say  a  word — I  have  said  it.  With  the  in 
creased  velocity  of  modern  changes,  we  do  not  know  what  the 
world  will  be  a  hundred  years  hence.  For,  surely,  the  ideals 
of  the  generation  of  the  year  2000  will  not  be  the  same  as 
those  of  the  generation  of  the  year  1900.  Nations  will  then 
be  governed  by  currents  of  political  thought  which  we  can 
no  more  anticipate  than  could  the  seventeenth  century  antici 
pate  the  political  currents  of  the  eighteenth,  which  still  in 
part  sway  us.  But  whether  the  spirit  of  authority — or  that 
of  freedom — increases,  Lincoln's  story  will  ever  appear  more 
luminous  in  the  amalgamation  of  centuries,  because  he  su 
premely  incarnated  both  those  spirits.  And  this  veneration 
for  Lincoln's  memory,  throughout  the  world,  is  bound  more 
and  more  to  centre  in  this  city — which  was  the  exclusive 
theatre  of  his  glory,  and  which  alone  could  reflect  the  anxieties 
and  the  elations  of  his  heart  during  the  whole  performance 
of  his  great  part  in  history — as  holding  the  great  preeminent 
title  of  being  the  place  of  his  martyrdom. 

I  am  proud  of  having  spoken  here  at  his  first  Centennial 
in  the  name  of  Latin  America.  We  all  owe  to  Lincoln  the 
immense  debt  of  having  fixed  forever  the  frea  character  of 
American  civilization. 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMOEATION 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION 

PHILADELPHIA  had  no  official  celebration  of  the  day, 
there  being  no  general  Committee  organized,  but  the  ob 
servances  took  place  under  private  initiative,  or  under  the 
auspices  of  the  various  organizations  and  societies  of  the 
city.  It  was  estimated,  however,  that  over  half  a  million  per 
sons  participated  in  the  various  memorial  meetings  and  exer 
cises. 

All  of  the  schools  observed  the  day  with  appropriate  pro 
grammes  and  special  observances;  there  were  elaborate  exer 
cises  under  the  auspices  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Pennsylvania 
Commandery ;  a  commemorative  programme  by  the  University 
Extension  Society;  and  an  observance  by  the  Philadelphia 
Association  of  Naval  Veterans. 

The  Historical  Society  had  on  exhibition  the  famous  Lam 
bert  collection  of  Lincoln  autographs  and  books,  while  at  the 
rooms  of  The  Union  League  was  displayed  a  loan  collection  of 
rare  prints  and  portraits,  from  the  private  collection  of  Major 
Lambert,  who  is  known  as  possibly  the  greatest  collector  of 
Lincolniana  in  our  country. 

The  banquet  held  in  the  evening  at  The  Union  League,  was 
perhaps  the  most  notable  celebration  of  the  day.  This  was 
presided  over  by  Mr.  James  F.  Hope,  President  of  the  Club ; 
Major  William  H.  Lambert,  the  speaker,  lending  wonderful 
significance  to  the  day  with  his  personal  reminiscences  of  Lin 
coln.  The  Marine  Band  from  Washington  furnished  a  musical 
programme,  both  afternoon  and  evening. 

The  Grand  Army  Association  of  Philadelphia  held  a  meet 
ing  at  the  Opera  House,  at  which  Henry  Watterson  made  the 
address;  and  commemorative  exercises  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  were  held  in  the  afternoon. 

441 


PRESERVER    OF    THE    UNION— SAVIOUR    OF    THE 

REPUBLIC:  REMINISCENCES  OF  ABRAHAM 

LINCOLN 

MAJOR  WILLIAM    H.    LAMBERT 

AMONG  the  many  associations  that  are  met  to  commemo 
rate  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  there  is  none  that  can  rejoice  in  the  honor  done 
his  name  with  greater  fitness  than  The  Union  League  of  Phil 
adelphia. 

The  Union  League  owes  its  being  to  the  earnest  purpose 
to  uphold  his  hands;  of  it  he  was  an  Honorary  member,  and 
in  acknowledging  his  election  as  such,  he  wrote,  "The  gen 
erous  approval  of  a  portion  of  my  fellow  citizens,  so  intelligent 
and  patriotic  as  those  comprising  your  association,  assures 
me  that  I  have  not  wholly  failed. ' ' 

Among  the  founders  of  the  League  were  men  who  had  early 
advocated  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  strenuously 
worked  for  his  election,  and  heartily  approved  his  administra 
tion  ;  and  when  they  united  to  form  this  organization  they 
enrolled  men  of  like  sympathy  and  purpose,  and  The  Union 
League  became  the  prototype  of  many  clubs  emulous  of  its 
example.  The  League  did  not  confine  itself  to  mere  verbal 
expressions  of  approbation,  valuable  and  important  as  such 
evidences  of  sympathy  and  loyalty  were,  but  it  engaged 
actively  and  successfully  in  recruiting  for  the  army,  and, 
participating  vigorously  in  the  campaign  for  his  renomination 
and  reelection,  was  powerfully  effective  in  securing  the  tri 
umph  at  the  ballot  which  ensured  final  victory  in  the  field. 
Having  steadfastly  and  energetically  supported  the  great 
President,  The  Union  League  of  right  joins  the  chorus  of 
thanksgiving  and  praise  for  the  life,  the  character,  and  the 
work  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

United  with  the  thousands  who  to-day  commemorate  the 
centenary  of  his  birth,  recalling  all  that  we  have  heard  and 
read  concerning  him,  especially  the  many  incidents  of  his 

442 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       443 

life  that  for  months  preparatory  to  this  day  have  been  nar 
rated  in  our  newspapers  and  magazines,  remembering  how  he 
shaped  our  history  and  enriched  our  literature,  it  is  hard  to 
realize  how  little  known  he  was  to  the  country  at  large  prior 
to  the  assembling  of  the  convention  that  nominated  him  for 
the  presidency. 

He  had  served  a  single  term  in  the  national  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  he  had  been  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1855,  in  the  next  year  his  name  had 
been  presented  to  the  first  National  Convention  of  the  Repub 
lican  Party  as  a  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency;  again 
placed  in  nomination  by  his  party  for  the  Senate,  he  engaged 
with  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  a  political  debate  the  most  mem 
orable  in  our  history  outside  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  as 
a  result  of  this  debate  he  secured  a  majority  of  the  popular 
vote  of  the  State  for  the  Republican  candidates  for  the  Legis 
lature,  but  as  the  majority  of  the  legislators  chosen  were  for 
Douglas,  Lincoln  was  a  second  time  defeated  in  his  aspiration 
for  the  Senate.  The  fame  of  the  debate  led  a  club  of  young 
men  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  invite  Lincoln  to  lecture,  and 
in  compliance  he  made  a  remarkable  address  at  the  Cooper 
Institute,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  audience,  comprising 
some  of  the  foremost  members  of  the  Republican  Party.  Be 
cause  of  this  address  he  was  requested  to  deliver  a  series  of 
speeches  in  the  New  England  States.  These  speeches  in  New 
York  and  the  East  attracted  the  attention  of  men  influential 
in  the  councils  of  the  party,  who,  opposed  to  the  more  prom 
inent  candidates  for  the  presidential  nomination,  were  seeking 
a  candidate  who,  in  their  judgment,  would  be  more  likely  to 
be  elected. 

Consideration  of  Lincoln's  availability,  the  importunity  of 
the  Republican  candidates  for  Governor  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Indiana — both  " October  States,"  and  supposedly  doubtful — - 
local  antagonism  to  Seward  and  to  Chase,  and  the  intense  ear 
nestness  of  Lincoln's  friends  in  Illinois  and  adjacent  States, 
cooperated  to  secure  for  him  the  nomination. 

Seemingly,  Lincoln  had  made  so  little  impression  upon  the 
people  at  large,  that  conservatives  who  deprecated  the  radical 


444  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

phrase  of  the  " Irrepressible  Conflict/'  and  feared  its  effect 
upon  voters,  had  apparently  forgotten — if  indeed  they  had 
known — that  months  before  Seward  had  pronounced  these 
objectionable  words,  Lincoln  had  declared,  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand;  I  believe  this  government  cannot 
endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free." 

Despite  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  controvert  the  state 
ment,  the  truth  is  that  for  the  moment  the  supreme  fact  of 
the  Chicago  Convention  of  1860  "was  the  defeat  of  Seward 
rather  than  the  nomination  of  Lincoln.  It  was  the  triumph 
of  a  presumption  of  availability  over  preeminence  in  intellect, 
and  unrivalled  fame. ' ' 

Elected  to  the  presidency  by  a  minority  of  the  popular  vote, 
his  election  followed  by  the  threatened  withdrawal  of  several 
States,  the  successful  candidate  might  well  be  awed  by  the 
stupendous  responsibility  that  awaited  him.  The  months  of 
suspense  between  his  election  and  his  inauguration  were 
fraught  with  intense  anxiety.  In  the  hope  of  averting  the 
threatened  calamity  many  public  meetings  urged  compromise 
and  favored  liberal  concessions.  Reaction  appeared  to  be 
setting  in,  and  many  who  had  helped  to  elect  him  seemed 
to  regret  their  success;  but  whoever  else  was  shaken,  Lincoln 
was  not,  and  to  his  intimate  friends  gave  assurance  of  his  firm 
adherence  to  the  principles  that  had  triumphed  in  his  election. 

In  letters  to  Senator  Trumbull,  Lincoln  wrote : 

"Let  there  be  no  compromise  on  the  question  of  extending  slavery — 
if  there  be,  all  our  labor  is  lost,  and  ere  long  must  be  done  again1. 
.  .  .  Stand  firm.  The  tug  has  to  come,  and  better  now  than  any 
time  hereafter." 

"If  any  of  our  friends  do  prove  false,  and  fix  up  a  compromise  on 
the  territorial  question,  I  am  for  fighting  again,  that  is  all."  "If  it 
prove  true  (report  that  the  forts  in  South  Carolina  will  be  surrendered 
by  the  consent  of  President  Buchanan),  I  will,  if  our  friends  at  Wash 
ington  concur,  announce  publicly  at  once  that  they  are  to  be  retaken 
after  the  inauguration.  This  will  give  the  Union  men  a  rallying  cry, 
and  preparations  will  proceed  somewhat  on  this  side  as  well  as  on  the 
other."  * 

*  These  passages  were  read  by  Major  Lambert  from  the  original  auto 
graph  letters. 


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THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       445 

Meanwhile  he  steadily  refrained  from  public  utterance  un 
til  he  set  forth  from  the  home  to  which  he  was  never  to  return 
alive.  His  touching  farewell  to  his  Springfield  neighbors, 
and  the  series  of  addresses  in  reply  to  greetings  from  the 
several  communities  through  which  he  passed  on  his  journey 
to  the  national  capital,  plainly  showed  that  he  appreciated 
the  weight  of  the  burden  he  was  about  to  assume,  and  so  far 
encouraged  the  party  that  had  elected  him,  but  gave  little 
evidence  of  special  fitness  for  the  work.  In  the  light  of  after 
events,  the  assertion  which  he  made  in  Independence  Hall — 
that,  rather  than  surrender  the  principles  which  had  been 
declared  there  he  would  be  assassinated  on  the  spot — is  pre 
eminent  as  an  indication  of  the  source  and  the  courage  of  his 
political  convictions;  while  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  its 
utterance  he  had  been  warned  of  a  conspiracy  to  kill  him, 
removes  from  these  words  any  suspicion  that  they  were  spoken 
for  rhetorical  effect,  and  invests  them  with  the  solemnity  of 
prophecy.  The  Inaugural  Address  of  the  new  President  was 
awaited  with  painful  solicitude.  Apprehension  that,  in  the 
hope  of  averting  disaster,  he  might  yield  somewhat  of  the 
principles  upon  which  he  had  been  elected;  fear  that,  in 
retaliation  for  threats  of  disunion,  he  might  determine  upon 
desperate  assaults  on  the  rights  of  the  revolted  and  threaten 
ing  States;  mistrust  that  he  might  prove  unequal  to  the 
nation's  supreme  exigency,  combined  to  intensify  anxiety. 

The  address  failed  to  satisfy  extremists,  either  North  or 
South,  but  the  great  body  of  loyal  people  were  delighted  with 
the  manifest  determination  of  the  President  to  preserve,  pro 
tect,  and  defend  the  government  he  had  sworn  to  uphold. 
But  his  solemn  assurances  that  he  would  in  no  wise  endanger 
the  property,  peace,  and  security  of  any  section  of  the  coun 
try  ;  that  it  was  his  purpose  to  administer  the  government  as 
it  had  come  to  him,  and  to  transmit  it  unimpaired  by  any  act 
of  his  to  his  successor ;  and  his  appeal  to  the  memories  of  the 
past,  and  to  the  common  interests  of  the  present,  were  alike 
powerless  to  recall  the  revolted  States  to  their  allegiance  or 
to  restrain  the  action  of  other  States,  bent  on  following  their 
example. 


446  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Anticipating  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  the 
Southern  Confederacy  had  been  proclaimed,  and  its  troops 
were  arrayed  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  while 
the  absence  of  efforts  of  repression  seemed  to  indicate  that 
the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  so  arrogantly  declared  by  the 
States  in  rebellion,  was  to  be  accomplished. 

For  weeks  succeeding  his  inauguration,  the  President 
awaited  the  progress  of  events — the  policy  of  laissez-faire 
seemed  to  have  been  adopted.  Some  tentative  efforts  were 
made  to  relieve  the  beleaguered  forts  within  the  limits  of  the 
insurgent  territory,  but  apparently  the  nation  was  drifting  to 
death. 

But  the  shot  on  Sumter  wrought  instant  and  wondrous 
change.  However  uncertain  Abraham  Lincoln  may  have  been 
as  to  the  method  of  maintaining  the  Union,  his  purpose  to 
maintain  it  had  been  positively  declared;  and  from  the  mo 
ment  the  flag  was  fired  upon,  the  method  was  no  longer  in 
doubt.  The  call  of  April  15,  1861,  was  the  answer  to  the 
challenge  of  Charleston  Harbor.  We  know  now  that  the  num 
ber  of  men  called  forth  was  utterly  inadequate  to  the  work 
to  be  done,  but  the  value  of  the  call  was  less  in  the  number  of 
men  it  evoked  than  in  the  assertion  that  armed  rebellion  was ' 
to  be  confronted  and  the  power  of  the  nation  was  to  be  put 
forth  for  its  own  preservation,  and  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws. 

Previous  to  his  entrance  upon  the  presidency,  Lincoln  had 
had  no  part  in  the  administration  of  great  affairs;  he  was 
destitute  of  experience  in  statecraft  and  he  had  no  precedent, 
either  in  our  own  history  or  in  that  of  other  lands,  to  guide 
him.  He  had  called  to  his  Cabinet  the  chief  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Republican  Party,  men  whose  great  experience  in  public 
affairs  and  whose  admitted  ability  and  acquirements  justified 
their  selection,  and  might  well  indeed  have  induced  him  to 
submit  to  their  direction;  but  he  realized  that  as  President 
he  could  not,  even  if  he  would,  transfer  the  obligation  of  his 
office.  Whatever  doubts  may  have  existed  in  the  minds  of 
his  advisers  as  to  his  purpose  and  fitness  to  accept  the  responsi 
bilities  of  his  office  were  soon  dispelled,  and  it  is  evident  that 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       447 

the  President  dominated  his  administration  from  the  beginning 
— when,  in  reply  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  who  had  advised 
a  radical  and  startling  change  in  the  governmental  policy, 
and  had  expressed  his  willingness  to  undertake  its  direction, 
Lincoln  declared,  "If  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it" — to 
the  close — when  he  notified  the  Lieutenant- General,  "You 
are  not  to  decide,  discuss,  or  confer  upon  any  political  ques 
tions.  Such  questions  the  President  holds  in  his  own  hands, 
and  will  submit  them  to  no  military  conferences  or  conven 
tions.  ' ' 

In  this  connection,  and  as  confirmatory  of  the  President's 
control  of  affairs,  the  recently  published  letter  of  his  private 
secretary,  John  Hay,  is  particularly  interesting,  as  showing 
the  impression  made  upon  a  qualified  observer,  and  recorded 
at  the  time.  Writing  at  Washington,  under  date  August  7, 
1863,  to  his  fellow  secretary,  Nicolay,  Hay  said : 

"The  Tycoon  is  in  fine  whack.  I  have  rarely  seen  him  more  serene 
and  busy.  He  is  managing  this  war,  the  draft,  foreign  relations,  and 
planning  a  reconstruction  of  the  Union  all  at  once.  I  never  knew 
with  what  tyrannous  authority  he  rules  the  Cabinet  until  now.  The 
most  important  things  he  decided  and  there  is  no  cavil." 

The  outbreak  of  hostilities  presented  to  President  Lincoln 
an  opportunity  not  of  his  seeking,  but  of  which  he  might  well 
avail  himself.  However  specious  the  plea  of  State  rights, 
however  disguised  the  chief  motive  which  prompted  the  seces 
sion  of  the  revolting  States,  he  knew,  as  the  people  knew,  that 
slavery  was  the  real  cause  of  the  Rebellion.  He  had  long 
foreseen  that  the  country  could  not  permanently  endure  par 
tially  slave,  partially  free;  he  knew  that  slavery  had  been 
the  basis  of  the  controversies  and  dangers  of  the  past.  If 
tradition  may  be  believed,  in  his  early  manhood  he  had  de 
clared  that  if  ever  he  should  have  a  chance,  he  would  hit 
slavery  hard,  and  now  the  chance  had  come.  In  1837,  with 
one  other  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  he  had  placed 
himself  on  record  declaring  his  belief  "that  the  institution  of 
slavery  is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy,"  and 
protesting  against  the  passage  of  resolutions  favoring  it. 


448  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Slavery  was  attempting  the  destruction  of  the  Republic,  and, 
by  its  own  appeal  to  arms,  was  offering  an  opportunity  for  a 
counter-blow  which  might  forever  destroy  an  institution  whose 
malign  influence  had  long  controlled  national  affairs,  and 
endangered  the  perpetuity  of  the  nation.  He  was  President 
and  Commander-in-chief;  in  the  party  that  had  elected  him 
were  many  thousands  anxious  for  the  proclamation  of  free 
dom  to  the  slave  and  insistent  upon  its  issue.  He  had  been 
the  nominee  of  a  party,  but  he  was  now  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  neither  hope  of  partisan  gain  nor  personal 
gratification  could  swerve  him  from  what  he  conceived  to  be 
the  obligation  of  his  oath.  His  conception  of  his  duty  was 
forcibly  expressed  in  his  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  probably 
the  most  important  of  the  many  notable  letters  written  by  the 
President.  Replying  to  the  Editor's  article  accusing  him  of 
failure  to  meet  the  rightful  expectations  of  twenty  millions 
of  the  loyal  people,  Lincoln  wrote  from  Washington,  under 
date  of  August  22,  1862 : 

"I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th,  addressed  to  myself  through, 
The  New  York  Tribune.  If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assump 
tions  of  fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not,  now  and 
here,  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it  any  inferences  which  I  may 
believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not,  now  and  here,  argue  against  them. 
If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive 
it  in  deference  to  an  old  friend  whose  heart  I  have  always  supposed 
to  be  right. 

"As  to  the  policy  I  'seem  to  be  pursuing/  as  you  say,  I  have  not 
meant  to  leave  anyone  in  doubt. 

"I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the  shortest  way  under  the 
Constitution.  The  sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored,  the 
nearer  the  Union  will  be  'the  Union  as  it  was/  If  there  be  those  who 
would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save 
slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would  not 
save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I 
do  not  agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to 
save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy  slavery.  If 
I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  and 
if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I 
could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also 
do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because 
I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  be- 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       449 

cause  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  leas 
whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall 
do  more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause.  I 
shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors,  and  I  shall  adopt 
new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views. 

"I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  view  of  official 
duty;  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish 
that  all  men  everywhere  could  be  free." 

Twenty  months  later,  in  a  letter  to  a  citizen  of  Kentucky, 
in  answer  to  his  request  for  a  statement  of  what  had  been 
said  to  the  Governor  of  that  State,  the  President  wrote : 

"I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is 
wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so  think  and  feel,  and  yet 
I  have  never  understood  that  the  presidency  conferred  upon  me  an 
unrestricted  right  to  act  officially  upon  this  judgment  and  feeling.  It 
was  in  the  oath  I  took,  that  I  would  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  I  could 
not  take  the  office  without  taking  the  oath.  Nor  was  it  my  view 
that  I  might  take  an  oath  to  get  power,  and  break  the  oath  in  using 
the  power.  I  understood,  too,  that  in  ordinary  civil  administration 
this  oath  even  forbade  me  to  practically  indulge  my  primary  abstract 
judgment  on  the  moral  question  of  slavery.  .  .  .  And  I  aver  that, 
to  this  day,  I  have  done  no  official  act  in  mere  deference  to  my  ab 
stract  judgment  and  feeling  on  slavery." 

With  clear  view,  and  steadfast  purpose,  President  Lincoln 
devoted  his  life  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  To  accom 
plish  this  end,  in  the  spirit  of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 
he  made  himself  servant  unto  all,  that  he  might  gain  the 
more.  Subordinating  self,  personal  prejudices  and  partisan 
feelings  were  not  allowed  to  obtrude  between  him  and  his 
conception  of  the  country's  need.  Ability  to  serve  the  cause 
was  the  essential  qualification  for  high  office  and  honor,  and, 
outweighing  other  consideration,  atoned  for  past  or  present 
personal  objection. 

Early  in  1862  he  appointed  as  chief  o'f  the  War  Department 
a  man  of  boundless  zeal  and  energy,  who  had  treated  Lin 
coln  with  marked  discourtesy,  had  denounced  his  conduct  of 
the  War,  and  had  freely  expressed  his  dislike  for  him  and 
doubt  of  his  fitness — an  appointment  as  sagacious  and  fortu- 


450  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

nate  as  it  was  magnanimous;  and  he  retained  in  his  Cabinet 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  whose  own  aspirations  for 
the  presidential  nomination  were  well  known  to  Lincoln,  who 
wrote,  "Whether  you  shall  remain  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury 
Department  is  a  question  which  I  will  not  allow  myself  to 
consider  from  any  standpoint  other  than  my  judgment  of  the 
public  service,  and,  in  that  view,  I  do  not  perceive  occasion 
for  a  change. ' ' 

The  War  of  1861-1865  was  no  mere  factional  contest.  It 
was  a  people's  war,  begun  by  a  people  jealous  of  its  institu 
tions,  fearful  of  the  wane  of  the  power  it  had  long  wielded, 
distrustful  of  the  new  administration's  assurances  of  non 
intervention  with  the  rights  of  States,  and  conscious  that  the 
limitation  of  slavery  to  the  territory  that  it  now  occupied 
must  eventually  effect  its  extinction.  The  War  was  accepted 
by  a  people  innocent  of  purpose  to  interfere  with  the  "do 
mestic  institution"  within  State  lines,  and  far  from  united 
in  opinion  about  slavery,  and  though  substantially  opposed 
to  its  extension  over  the  country's  free  domain,  not  agreed  as 
to  the  best  method  of  legislative  treatment ;  but  one  absolutely 
in  love  with  the  Union  and  in  determination  to  maintain  it. 
"One  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive, 
and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish. 
And  the  war  came." 

Only  the  enlistment  of  the  people  on  each  of  the  contend 
ing  sides  could  have  sustained  so  long  a  war  of  such  magni 
tude,  and  offered  such  heroic  devotion  as  distinguished  it. 
The  President  realized  that  his  ability  to  make  effective  his 
oath  to  preserve  the  government  was  dependent  upon  the  firm 
and  continued  support  of  the  loyal  people ;  that  he  could  lead 
them  no  faster  and  no  further  than  they  would  follow,  and 
that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  retain  their  confidence. 
His  faith  in  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
his  conviction  that  the  people  were  the  rightful  source  of  all 
governmental  power,  had  suffered  no  change  by  his  elevation 
to  the  presidency.  In  an  especial  sense  a  man  of  the  people, 
the  restraint  which  kept  him  closely  in  touch  with  them  was 


THE    WH  ITE    HOUSE 

WASHINGTON 


We  never  have  had  a  man  in  public  life  whose  sense  of  duty 
was  stronger,  whose  bearing  toward  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact,  whether  his  frienda  or  political  opponents,  was  charac 
terized  by  a  greater  sense  of  fairness  than  Abraham  Lincoln.   We 

% 

never  have  had  a  man  in  public  life  who  took  upon  himself  uncom 
plainingly  the  woes  of  the  nation  and  suffered  in  MB  soul  from 
the  weight  of  them  as  he  did.  V/e  never  have  had  a  man  in  our 
history  who  had  such  a  mixture  of  far-sightedneeB,  understanding 
of  people,  common  sense,  high  sense  of  duty,  power  of  inexorable 
logic  and  confidence  in  the  goodness  of  God  in  working  out  a 
righteous  result,  as  this  great  product  of  the  soil  of  our  country, 

One  cannot  read  of  him  without  loving  him.   One  cannot  think 
of  hie  struggles,  of  hi  a  life  and  its  tragic  end,  without  weeping. 
One  cannot  study  his  efforts,  his  conscience,  his  heroism,  and  his 
patriotism,  and  the  burdens  of  bitter  attack  and  calumny  under 
which  he  suffered,  and  think  of  the  place  he  now  occupies  in  the 
history  of  this  country,  without  a  moral  inspiration  of  the  most 
stirring  and  intense  character. 


Facsimile  of  Tribute  from  President  Taft 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       451 

not  unwillingly  borne,  but  readily  accepted  as  the  condition 
under  which  he  best  could  act  with  and  for  them. 

The  acquisition  of  vast  power,  increasing  with  the  prolonga 
tion  of  the  War,  made  no  change  in  the  simplicity  of  his 
character.  Unhampered  by  conventionalities,  indifferent  to 
forms,  he  received  his  old-time  friends  with  the  freedom  of 
their  earlier  intercourse,  and  was  accessible  to  all  who  sought 
him.  No  visitor  was  too  humble  for  his  consideration,  and 
if,  in  too  many  instances,  the  causes  which  received  his  atten 
tion  were  too  trivial  to  engage  the  thought  of  the  Chief  Mag 
istrate  of  a  great  nation  in  its  time  of  stress,  the  very  fact  of 
his  willingness  to  see  and  hear  all,  endeared  him  to  the  people, 
who  saw  in  him  one  of  themselves — unspoiled  by  power,  un 
harmed  by  success. 

As  no  President  before  him  had  done,  he  confided  in  the 
people;  and,  in  a  series  of  remarkable  letters  and  speeches, 
explained  or  justified  his  more  important  acts  by  arguments 
of  simplest  form,  but  marvellous  strength.  His  frankness 
and  directness  of  expression,  his  obvious  sincerity  and  abso 
lute  patriotism,  even,  perhaps,  as  much  as  the  force  of  his 
reasoning,  compelled  respect  for  his  acts  and  enlarged  the 
number  and  increased  the  faith  of  his  strenuous  supporters. 

The  sympathetic  audience  which  he  gave  to  every  tale  of 
woe,  his  manifest  reluctance  to  inflict  the  extreme  penalty 
which  violation  of  military  law  entailed,  seemed  at  times  to 
detract  from  the  dignity  of  his  high  office,  and  prompted 
commanding  officers  to  complain  that  the  proper  maintenance 
of  discipline  was  rendered  impossible  by  Lincoln 's  sensibility ; 
but  these  characteristics  strengthened  his  hold  upon  the  people 
at  home  and  in  the  army.  In  his  profound  sympathy,  in  his 
splendid  courage,  in  his  transparent  honesty,  in  his  patriotic 
devotion,  in  his  simplicity  of  thought  and  manner — nay,  in 
the  very  haggardness  of  feature,  ungainliness  of  form,  and 
homeliness  of  attire,  he  was  the  expression  of  a  plain  people 's 
hopes,  and  the  embodiment  of  their  cause. 

Here  was  neither  Caesar  nor  Napoleon,  but  a  popular  leader, 
such  as  befitted  a  Republic  destined  to  preserve  its  popular 


452  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

form,  though  its  ruler  wielded  imperial  power ;  a  leader  whose 
highest  ambition  was  to  save  the  country  and  to  transmit  the 
government  unimpaired  to  his  successor. 

Generals,  intoxicated  with  power  and  anticipations  of  suc 
cess,  might  assert  the  country 's  need  of  a  dictator,  and,  appar 
ently,  be  not  unwilling  to  assume  the  role,  but  the  President, 
without  shadow  of  jealousy  of  any  of  his  subordinates, 
shrewdly  declared,  ' '  Only  those  generals  who  gain  success  can 
set  up  dictators.  What  I  ask  of  you  is  military  success;  I 
will  risk  the  dictatorship." 

The  splendid  manifestation  of  popular  feeling  which  fol 
lowed  the  assault  upon  Sumter  might  easily  have  caused  the 
President  to  rely  confidently  upon  popular  support  in  his 
every  effort  to  suppress  the  Rebellion;  the  generous  response 
to  his  early  calls  for  troops  might  readily  have  assured  him 
that  the  number  of  volunteers  would  exceed  all  needs,  and 
have  led  him  to  expect  the  speedy  end  of  the  War ;  but  he  was 
not  deluded  by  the  hope  that  the  War  would  be  of  short 
duration ;  he  saw  the  necessity  of  preparation  for  a  long  strug 
gle,  and  felt  the  importance  of  conserving  all  interests,  and 
of  securing  the  support  of  all  who,  however  they  may  have 
differed  in  other  respects,  agreed  in  devotion  to  the  Union. 
Hence  he  made  concessions  to  the  opinions  of  those  who,  while 
opposed  to  disunion,  did  not  sympathize  with  his  own  views 
concerning  slavery  and  its  extension.  "How  a  free  people " 
would  "conduct  a  long  war"  was  a  problem  to  be  demon 
strated,  and  President  Lincoln  was  unwilling  to  alienate  any 
who  were  faithful  to  the  government,  even  though  they  dep 
recated  the  occasion  which  had  placed  it  in  jeopardy.  His 
sagacity  and  his  observation  had  shown  him  how  wavering 
were  the  currents  of  popular  opinion,  how  readily  popular 
enthusiasm  could  be  quenched  by  disappointment  and  defeat, 
and  how  imperative  it  was  for  him  to  hold  together  all  elements 
requisite  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  War. 

Disappointed  friends  might  inveigh  against  his  caution 
and  demand  dismissal  of  leaders  and  change  of  policy;  luke 
warm  supporters  might  withdraw  their  confidence,  supersen- 
sitive  observers  might  denounce  heroic  war  measures  as 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       453 

invasions  of  personal  or  State  rights ;  but,  despite  harassment 
and  annoyance  and  antagonism,  unshaken  in  purpose,  indomi 
table  in  courage,  the  President  moved  steadily  on.  The  de 
fection  of  old  friends  and  party  associates  might  grieve  him, 
the  unjust  accusations  of  nominal  Unionists  might  rankle, 
but  he  could  not  be  deflected  from  the  line  of  his  duty. 

He  knew  that  other  than  purely  military  considerations 
might  rightfully  determine  campaigns;  that  success  in  the 
field,  though  conducive  to  success  at  home  and  to  ultimate 
triumph,  was  not  the  only  essential ;  and  that  to  maintain  the 
armies  at  the  front  it  was  imperative  to  sustain  the  sentiment 
of  the  people  at  home.  From  the  broader  outlook  of  the 
Capital,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  people  directly,  and 
through  their  chosen  representatives,  he  appreciated,  as  the 
generals  in  the  field  could  not,  the  indispensability  of  popular 
support  as  well  as  of  military  success. 

The  President  early  gave  evidence  that  he  was  willing  to 
assume  the  gravest  responsibilities  by  acts  which  he  believed 
would  conduce  to  the  great  end  that  he  had  in  view.  1 1 1  feel 
that  measures  otherwise  unconstitutional  might  become  law 
ful  by  becoming  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  the 
nation.  Right  or  wrong,  I  assumed  this  ground,  and  now 
avow  it."  Acting  upon  this  theory,  while  he  had  abstained 
from  striking  at  slavery  as  an  evil  in  itself  and  in  its  results, 
yet  when,  by  deliberate  and  painful  consideration,  he  became 
convinced  that  the  preservation  of  the  Union  demanded  free 
dom  for  the  slave,  he  determined  upon  emancipation  so  far 
as  he  could  effect  it  consistently  with  his  constitutional  obliga 
tion  and  his  military  prerogative.  We  honor  his  memory 
because  of  the  courage  and  the  foresight  which  led  him  to  this 
great  and  beneficent  act,  but  we  in  no  wise  detract  from  his 
fame  as  the  liberator  of  the  slave  when  calling  attention  to 
the  fact  that  uniformly  he  justified  the  act  by  its  military 
necessity,  and  never  because  of  its  righteousness  as  the  aboli 
tion  of  a  great  wrong. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  steps  by  which  the  President 
reached  his  determination  to  proclaim  emancipation.  He 
moved  most  cautiously  and  would  not  allow  any  of  his  sub- 


454  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ordinates  to  force  his  hand,  or  permit  them  a  latitude  he 
would  not  permit  himself;  hence,  when  with  impetuous  and 
ill-judged  zeal  General  Fremont,  who,  in  1856,  was  the  first 
Republican  nominee  for  the  presidency,  issued  a  Proclamation 
of  Freedom,  Mr.  Lincoln  courteously  but  positively  revoked  it 
— an  act  which  brought  upon  him  the  condemnation  of  many 
of  his  warmest  friends,  to  one  of  whom,  Senator  Browning, 
he  wrote  a  confidential  letter,  dated  Washington,  September 
22,  1861,  from  which  I  quote : 

"General  Fremont's  proclamation  as  to  confiscation  of  property  and 
the  liberation  of  slaves  is  purely  political  and  not  within  the  range 
of  military  law  or  necessity.  If  a  commanding  general  finds  a  neces 
sity  to  seize  the  farm  of  a  private  owner  for  a  pasture,  an  encampment, 
or  a  fortification,  he  has  the  right  to  do  so,  and  to  so  hold  it  as  long 
as  the  necessity  lasts;  and  this  is  within  military  law,  because  within 
military  necessity.  But  to  say  the  farm  shall  no  longer  belong  to  the 
owner,  or  his  heirs  forever,  and  this  as  well  when  the  farm  is  not 
needed  for  military  purposes  as  when  it  is,  is  purely  political,  without 
the  savor  of  military  law  about  it.  And  the  same  is  true  of  slaves. 
If  the  general  needs  them,  he  can  seize  them  and  use  them;  but  when 
the  need  is  past,  it  is  not  for  him  to  fix  their  permanent  future  con 
dition.  That  must  be  settled  according  to  laws  made  by  law-makers, 
and  not  by  military  proclamations.  The  proclamation  in  the  point  in 
question  is  simply  'dictatorship.'  It  assumes  that  the  general  may 
do  anything  he  pleases— confiscate  the  lands  and  free  the  slaves  of 
loyal  people,  as  well  as  of  disloyal  ones.  And  going  the  whole  figure, 
I  have  no  doubt,  would  be  more  popular  with  some  thoughtless  people 
than  that  which  has  been  done!  But  I  cannot  assume  this  reckless 
position,  nor  allow  others  to  assume  it  on  my  responsibility.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  say  Congress  might  not  with  propriety  pass  a  law  on  the 
point,  just  such  as  General  Fre*mont  proclaimed.  I  do  not  say  I  might 
not,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  vote  for  it.  What  I  object  to  is,  that  I, 
as  President,  shall  expressly  or  impliedly  seize  and  exercise  the 
permanent  legislative  functions  of  the  Government."  * 

Again,  when,  later,  General  Hunter — unmindful  of  Fre 
mont's  experience,  and  confronted  by  peculiarly  aggravating 
conditions  in  his  Department  of  the  South — issued  a  Procla 
mation  of  Emancipation,  the  President  countermanded  the 

*  These  passages,  were  read  by  Major  Lambert  from  the  original  auto 
graph  letter. 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       455 

General's  act,  but  in  the  order  of  revocation  there  was  a 
distinct  advance  in  the  views  expressed  on  the  subject  of 
emancipation  as  a  military  measure.  Now,  instead  of  doubt 
ing  his  own  right  as  President,  he  declared : 

"Whether  it  be  competent  for  me,  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
and  navy,  to  declare  the  slaves  of  any  State  or  States  free,  and 
whether,  at  any  time,  in  any  case,  it  shall  have  become  a  necessity 
indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  the  government  to  exercise  such 
supposed  power,  are  questions  which,  under  my  responsibility,  I  re 
serve  to  myself,  and  which  I  cannot  feel  justified  in  leaving  to  the 
decision  of  commanders  in  the  field." 

The  revocation  of  these  attempts  at  emancipation  evoked 
many  indignant  protests  against  the  President's  action,  but 
they  were  ineffective  to  change  it;  but  four  months  later, 
having  decided  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  nation's  life 
demanded  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  rebel  owners,  on 
the  twenty-second  of  September,  1862,  he  announced  his  pur 
pose  to  declare  freedom  to  the  slaves  held  by  the  people  in 
rebellion,  and  on  the  first  of  January,  1863,  by  virtue  of  his 
power  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  the 
suppression  of  rebellion,  he  proclaimed  emancipation  to  slaves 
within  designated  territory,  invoking  "upon  this  act,  sincerely 
believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution 
upon  military  necessity,  .  .  .  the  considerate  judgment 
of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God. ' ' 

Although  the  President  had  decided  that  emancipation  was 
only  justified  as  a  war  measure,  he  declared  emphatically  that 
he  would  not  retract  or  modify  the  Proclamation  or  return 
to  slavery  any  person  who  had  been  freed  by  its  terms  or 
by  any  of  the  Acts  of  Congress,  and  in  his  last  Annual  Mes 
sage  he  repeated  that  declaration  and  said,  "If  the  people 
should,  by  whatever  mode  or  means,  make  it  an  executive 
duty  to  reenslave  such  persons,  another,  and  not  I,  must  be 
their  instrument  to  perform  it." 

Emancipation,  which,  in  its  inception,  was  necessarily  lim 
ited  and  largely  tentative,  became  by  force  of  his  action  and 
by  reason  of  his  advocacy  universal  and  permanent;  for  it 


456  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

was  through  his  inspiration  and  because  of  his  persistence  that 
by  legal  procedure  the  war  measure  became  a  constitutional 
enactment,  and  to  the  end  of  time  Abraham  Lincoln  will  be 
known  as  the  Liberator  of  the  Slave. 

The  possession  of  imperial  power,  the  accomplishment  of 
complete  victory — saving  the  Union  and  securing  its  by 
product,  Emancipation — the  plaudits  of  exulting  thousands, 
did  not  change  the  man,  or  tempt  him  to  forego  his  allegiance 
to  the  Constitution,  or  to  waver  in  his  devotion  to  "the  senti 
ments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence."  No 
aspiration  for  perpetuity  of  power  separated  him  from  the 
plain  people  upon  whom  he  relied,  from  whose  ranks  he  had 
come,  to  whom  he  expected  to  return ;  for  it  is  glory  that  he 
had  not  only  completed  a  great  work,  and  guaranteed  its 
beneficent  and  far-reaching  consequences,  "but,"  to  quote  the 
language  of  Carl  Schurz,  "that  during  the  stormiest  and  most 
perilous  crisis  in  our  history,  he  so  conducted  the  Government 
and  so  wielded  his  almost  dictatorial  power  as  to  leave  essen 
tially  intact  our  free  institutions  in  all  things  that  concern  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  citizen. ' ' 

From  the  highest  reach  that  Lincoln  had  attained  before 
his  accession  to  the  Presidency,  to  the  zenith  of  his  career,  the 
space  seems  incalculable.  The  study  of  his  earlier  life  shows, 
indeed,  that  he  possessed  clearness  of  thought,  remarkable  gift 
of  expression,  native  sagacity,  honesty  of  purpose,  and  courage 
of  conviction ;  that  he  was  devoted  to  the  rights  of  man,  and 
that  he  loved  his  country;  but  that  he  possessed  elements  of 
greatness  in  such  degree  as  the  War  revealed  could  not  have 
been  surmised  from  aught  he  had  said  or  done.  And  that  he 
should  manifest  so  soon  and  so  signally  his  ability  to  rule  a 
great  nation  in  the  most  dangerous  period  of  its  existence; 
that  he  should  overtower  his  associates  and  prove  that,  more 
than  they,  he  was  fitted  to  save  the  government ;  that  he  could 
wield  a  power  far  greater  than  that  of  any  of  his  predecessors 
and  surpassing  that  exercised  by  any  contemporary  ruler, 
king  or  emperor,  could  not  have  been  foreseen  by  any  lacking 
divine  inspiration.  Not  by  graded  steps,  but  by  giant  stride, 
Lincoln  reached  the  height  of  power,  achievement,  and  fame. 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEMORATION       457 

True,  the  progress  of  the  War  revealed  growth  in  character, 
in  thought,  and  in  force,  and  he  stood  much  higher  at  its  close 
than  at  its  beginning;  but  at  its  opening  it  early  became  ap 
parent  that  Providence  had  so  shaped  the  country's  destiny 
that  the  man  who  had  been  chosen  mainly  because  of  his  avail 
ability  as  a  candidate  was  far  and  away  the  one  man  for  the 
office  and  the  work. 

In  the  metropolis  of  the  State  wherein  most  of  Lincoln's 
life  was  lived,  on  the  shore  of  the  great  lake  over  which  he 
had  so  often  looked,  at  the  entrance  to  the  beautiful  park  that 
bears  his  name,  stands  his  figure  in  bronze,  in  the  attitude 
of  speaking,  as  he  so  often  stood  in  life.  His  face  is  rugged 
and  kindly ;  no  toga  drapes  his  gaunt  form  or  hides  his  every 
day  garb;  no  scroll  in  his  hand  and  no  conventional  column 
by  his  side  detract  from  his  homely  simplicity;  no  allegoric 
devices  mar  the  harmonious  realism.  Upon  the  flanks  of  the 
granite  exedra  that  stretches  around  the  pedestal,  metal  globes 
bear  the  words  of  his  immortal  utterances.  This  triumph  of 
Saint-Gaudens's  art  marvellously  portrays  the  ideal,  that  is  no 
less  the  real,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN — PRESERVER  OF  THE  UNION — 
SAVIOUR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


THE  COENELL  UNIVERSITY 
COMMEMORATION 


THE  COENELL  UNIVERSITY 
COMMEMORATION 

THE   regular  exercises  of  Cornell  University  were  sus 
pended  for  the  purpose  of  the  Lincoln  celebration,  at 
which  the  Hon.  Frank  S.  Black,  former  Governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  gave  the  commemorative  address. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  MASTER  OF  TIME 

HON.   FRANK  S.  BLACK 

nnHERE  are  subjects  upon  which  nothing  new  can  be  said, 
A  but  which  still  arouse  the  fervor  awakened  at  their  first 
enunciation.  If  the  song  was  true  when  it  started  on  its 
journey,  it  will  be  sung  as  long  as  human  hearts  vibrate  and 
tongues  retain  the  gift  of  speech.  It  will  be  lisped  by  those 
who  are  tottering  on  toward  the  end,  and  echoed  by  those 
whose  hearts  are  filled  with  the  promise  and  the  glow  of  youth. 
If  the  product  was  genuine  when  it  passed  from  the  Creator  '& 
hand,  it  will  neither  be  dimmed  by  age  nor  cheapened  by 
familiarity;  for  honor  is  not  decreased  by  contact,  and  truth 
is  never  out  of  tune.  If  none  of  the  old  stories  are  ever  to  be 
re-told,  many  a  noble  inspiration  must  be  lost,  and  many  a 
tender  chord  must  remain  untouched. 

This  is  the  age,  I  know,  when  the  search  is  at  its  height  for 
the  new  and  marvellous,  and  in  this  eagerness  the  primeval 
forests  are  swept  away,  the  bowels  of  the  earth  are  punctured, 
and  even  on  the  remotest  sea  the  observant  eye  detects  the 
flutter  of  a  sail.  The  watchword  is  energy,  the  goal  is  success, 
but  in  the  fever  of  modern  enterprise  a  moment's  rest  can  do 
no  harm.  We  must  not  only  acquire,  we  must  retain.  We 
must  not  only  learn,  we  must  remember.  The  newest  is  not 

461 


462  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

always  the  best.  The  date  or  lustre  of  the  coin  does  not  deter 
mine  its  metal.  The  substance  may  be  plain  and  unobtrusive, 
and  still  be  gold.  Whoever  chooses  without  a  proper  test  may 
die  both  a  pauper  and  a  fool.  The  paintings  of  recent  times 
have  evoked  the  praise  of  critics,  and  yet  thousands  still  pay 
their  homage  to  an  older  genius.  Modern  literature  is  ablaze 
with  beauty  and  with  power,  and  yet  millions  are  still  going 
to  one  old  and  thumb-worn  text  for  their  final  consolation. 

Eemembering  the  force  of  these  examples,  it  will  be  profit 
able  sometimes  to  step  one  side  for  the  serious  contemplation 
of  rugged,  lasting  qualities  in  whatever  age  or  garb  they  have 
appeared.  The  hero  of  an  hour  will  pass  as  quickly  as  he 
came.  The  flashlight  will  dazzle  and  blind,  but  when  the  eyes 
are  rubbed  the  impression  has  passed  away ;  but  the  landscape 
that  comes  slowly  into  view  with  the  rising  sun,  growing  more 
resplendent  and  distinct  with  his  ascending  power,  and  fading 
gently  from  the  vision  at  the  approach  of  night,  will  remain 
in  the  mind  forever,  to  illuminate,  to  strengthen,  and  to  cheer. 
And  men  are  like  impressions.  There  are  more  examples  of 
the  flashlight  kind  than  there  are  fireflies  on  a  summer 's  night, 
but  there  is  no  nobler  representative  of  the  enduring  and 
immortal  than  he  in  whose  name  this  event  is  celebrated. 
Whoever  imparts  a  new  view  of  his  character  must  tell  it  to 
the  newborn,  to  whom  all  things  are  new,  for  to  the  intelligent 
and  mature  his  name  and  virtues  have  been  long  familiar. 
His  was  the  power  that  commanded  admiration,  and  the 
humanity  that  invited  love ;  mild  but  inflexible,  just  but  merci 
ful,  great  but  simple,  he  possessed  a  head  that  commanded  men 
and  a  heart  that  attracted  babes.  His  conscience  was  strong 
enough  to  bear  continual  use.  It  was  not  alone  for  public 
occasions  nor  great  emergencies.  It  was  never  a  capital,  but 
always  a  chart.  It  was  never  his  servant,  to  be  dismissed  at 
will,  but  his  companion  to  be  always  at  his  side.  It  was  with 
him,  but  never  behind  him,  for  he  knew  that  a  pursuing 
conscience  is  an  accuser,  and  not  a  guide,  and  brings  remorse 
instead  of  comfort. 

His  greatness  did  not  depend  upon  his  title,  for  greatness 
was  his  when  the  title  was  bestowed.  He  leaned  upon  no 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  COMMEMORATION      463 

fiction  of  nobility,  and  kissed  no  hand  to  obtain  his  rank,  but 
the  stamp  of  nobility  and  power  which  he  wore  was  conferred 
upon  him  in  that  log  hut  in  Kentucky,  that  day  in  1809,  when 
he  and  Nancy  Hanks  were  first  seen  together,  and  it  was 
conferred  by  a  power  which,  unlike  earthly  potentates,  never 
confers  a  title  without  a  character  that  will  adorn  it.  When 
we  understand  the  tremendous  advantages  of  a  humble  birth, 
when  we  realize  that  the  privations  of  youth  are  the  pillars  of 
strength  to  maturer  years,  then  we  shall  cease  to  wonder  that 
out  of  such  obscure  surroundings  as  watched  the  coming  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  should  spring  the  colossal  and  supreme 
figure  of  modern  history. 

Groves  are  better  than  temples,  fields  are  better  than 
gorgeous  carpetings,  rail  fences  are  better  than  lines  of  kneel 
ing  slaves,  and  the  winds  are  better  than  music  if  you  are 
raising  heroes  and  founding  governments. 

Those  who  understand  these  things  and  have  felt  the  heart 
of  nature  beat  will  not  wonder  that  this  man  could  stand  the 
shock  and  fury  of  war,  and  yet  maintain  that  calm  serenity 
which  enabled  him  to  hear  above  the  roar  of  the  storm  that 
enveloped  him,  the  low,  smothered  cry  that  demanded  the 
freedom  of  a  race. 

If  you  look  for  attributes  that  dazzle  and  bewilder,  you  must 
seek  them  elsewhere  than  in  the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
It  was  not  by  show  or  glitter  or  by  sound  that  the  great 
moments  of  history  were  marked,  and  the  great  deeds  of  man 
kind  were  wrought.  The  color  counts  for  nothing;  it  is  the 
fibre  alone  that  lasts.  The  precept  will  be  forgotten  unless 
the  deed  is  remembered.  The  wildest  strains  of  martial  music 
will  pass  away  on  the  wind,  while  the  grim  and  deadly  courage 
of  the  soldier,  moving  and  acting  without  a  word,  will  mark 
the  spot  where  pilgrims  of  every  race  will  linger  and  worship 
forever. 

No  character  in  the  world  more  clearly  saw  the  worth  of 
substance  and  the  mockery  of  show,  and  no  career  ever  set  in 
such  everlasting  light  the  doctrine  that  although  vanity  and 
pretence  may  flourish  for  a  day,  there  can  be  no  lasting 
triumph  not  founded  on  the  truth. 


464  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  life  of  Lincoln  moved  upon  that  high,  consistent  plane 
which  the  surroundings  of  his  youth  inspired.  Poverty  is  a 
hard  but  oftentimes  a  loving  nurse.  If  fortune  denies  the 
luxuries  of  wealth,  she  makes  generous  compensation  in  that 
greater  love  which  they  alone  can  ever  know  who  have  faced 
privations  together.  The  child  may  shiver  in  the  fury  of  the 
blast  which  no  maternal  tenderness  can  shield  him  from,  but 
he  may  feel  a  helpless  tear  drop  upon  his  cheek  which  will 
keep  him  warm  till  the  snows  of  time  have  covered  his  hair.  It 
is  not  wealth  that  counts  in  the  making  of  the  world,  but 
character.  And  character  is  best  formed  amid  those  sur 
roundings  where  every  waking  hour  is  filled  with  struggle, 
where  no  flag  of  truce  is  ever  sent,  and  only  darkness  stays 
the  conflict.  Give  me  the  hut  that  is  small  enough,  the 
poverty  that  is  deep  enough,  the  love  that  is  great  enough,  and 
over  all  the  fear  of  God,  and  I  will  raise  from  them  the  best 
there  is  in  human  character. 

This  lad,  uncouth  and  poor,  without  aid  or  accidental  cir 
cumstance,  rising  as  steadily  as  the  sun,  marked  a  path  across 
the  sky  so  luminous  and  clear  that  there  is  not  one  to  mate 
it  to  be  discovered  in  the  heavens;  and  throughout  its  whole 
majestic  length  there  is  no  spot  or  blemish  in  it. 

The  love  of  justice  and  fair  play,  and  that  respect  for  order 
and  the  law  which  must  underlie  every  nation  that  would  long 
endure,  were  deeply  embedded  in  his  nature.  These,  I  know, 
are  qualities  destitute  of  show  and  whose  names  are  never  set 
to  music,  but  unless  there  is  in  the  people's  heart  a  deep  sense 
of  their  everlasting  value,  that  people  will  neither  command 
respect  in  times  of  their  prosperity  nor  sympathy  in  the  hour 
of  their  decay.  These  are  the  qualities  that  stand  the  test 
when  hurricanes  sweep  by.  These  are  the  joints  of  oak  that 
ride  the  storm  and  when  the  clouds  have  melted  and  the  waves 
are  still,  move  on  serenely  in  their  course.  Times  will  come 
when  nothing  but  the  best  can  save  us.  Without  warning  and 
without  cause,  out  of  a  clear  and  smiling  sky  may  descend  the 
bolt  that  will  scatter  the  weaker  qualities  to  the  winds.  We 
have  seen  that  bolt  descend.  There  is  danger  at  such  a  time. 
The  hurricane  will  pass  like  the  rushing  of  the  sea.  Then  is 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  COMMEMORATION       465 

the  time  to  determine  whether  governments  can  stand  amid 
such  perilous  surroundings.  The  American  character  has  been 
often  proved  superior  to  any  test.  No  danger  can  be  so  great 
and  no  calamity  so  sudden  as  to  throw  it  off  its  guard.  This 
great  strength  in  times  of  trial,  and  this  self-restraint  in  times 
of  wild  excitement,  have  been  attained  by  years  of  training, 
precept,  and  experience.  Justice  has  so  often  emerged  tri 
umphant  from  obstacles  which  seemed  to  chain  her  limbs  and 
make  the  righteous  path  impossible,  that  there  is  now  rooted 
in  the  American  heart  the  faith,  that,  no  matter  how  dark 
the  night,  there  will  somehow  break  through  at  the  appointed 
hour  a  light  which  shall  reveal  to  eager  eyes  the  upright  forms 
of  Justice  and  the  law,  still  moving  hand  in  hand,  still  supreme 
over  chaos  and  despair,  the  image  and  the  substance  of  the 
world's  sublime  reliance. 

I  shall  not  try  to  present  Lincoln  as  an  orator,  a  lawyer,  a 
statesman  or  a  politician.  His  name  and  his  performances  in 
the  lines  which  he  pursued  have  been  cut  into  the  rock  of 
American  history  with  the  deepest  chisel  yet  made  use  of  on 
this  continent.  But  it  is  not  by  the  grandeur  of  his  powers 
that  he  has  most  appealed  to  me,  but  rather  by  those  softer, 
homelier  traits  that  bring  him  down  to  a  closer  and  more 
affectionate  view.  The  mountain  that  crowds  its  summit  to 
the  clouds  is  never  so  magnificent  to  the  observer  on  the  plain 
below  as  when,  by  some  clear  and  kindly  light,  its  smaller 
outlines  are  revealed.  And  Lincoln  was  never  more  imposing 
than  when  the  milder  attributes  of  his  nature  were  exposed. 
He  was  genuine;  he  was  affectionate;  and  after  all  is  said, 
and  the  end  is  reached,  what  is  there  without  these  two  ?  You 
may  measure  the  heights  and  sound  the  depths ;  you  may  gain 
the  great  rewards  of  power  and  renown ;  you  may  quiver  under 
the  electric  current  of  applause — the  time  will  come  when 
these  will  fall  from  you  like  the  rags  that  cover  your  body. 
The  robes  of  power  and  the  husks  of  pretence  will  alike  be 
stripped  away,  and  you  must  stand  at  the  end  as  you  stood  at 
the  beginning,  revealed.  Under  such  a  test,  Abraham  Lincoln 
might  stand  erect,  for  no  man  loved  the  humbler,  nobler  traits 
more  earnestly  than  he.  Whatever  he  pretended  to  be,  he  was ; 
30 


466  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

genuine  and  sincere,  he  did  not  need  embellishment.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  world  which  needs  so  little  decoration,  or  which 
can  so  well  afford  to  spurn  it  altogether,  as  the  absolutely 
genuine.  Imitations  are  likely  to  be  exposed  unless  carefully 
ornamented.  Too  much  embellishment  generally  covers  a 
blemish  in  the  construction.  It  therefore  happens  that  the 
first  rate  invariably  rejects  adornment  and  the  second  rate  in 
variably  puts  it  on.  The  difference  between  the  two  can  be 
discovered  at  short  range,  and  safety  from  exposure  lies  only 
in  imperfect  examination.  If  the  vision  is  clear  and  the 
inspection  careful,  there  is  no  chance  for  the  sham  ever  to  be 
taken  for  the  genuine ;  and  that  is  why  it  happens  that  among 
all  the  forms  of  activity  in  this  very  active  age,  no  struggle  is 
more  sharp  than  that  of  the  first  rate  to  be  found  out  and  of 
the  second  not  to  be.  It  is  easier  to  conceal  what  a  thing  is, 
than  to  prove  it  to  be  what  it  is  not.  One  requires  only  con 
cealment,  the  other  demonstration.  Sooner  or  later  the  truth 
will  appear.  Some  time  the  decorations  will  fall  off,  and  then 
the  blemish  will  appear  greater  because  of  the  surprise  at  find 
ing  it.  None  have  less  to  fear  from  such  a  test  than  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  his  strength  in  that  regard  arose,  it  seems  to  me, 
from  the  preservation  through  all  his  life  of  that  fondness 
for  his  early  home,  of  the  tender  recollections  of  his  family 
and  their  struggles,  which  kept  his  sympathy  always  warm  and 
young.  He  was  never  so  great  but  that  the  ties  of  his  youth 
still  bound  him.  He  was  never  so  far  away  but  that  he  could 
still  hear  the  note  of  the  evening  bird  in  the  groves  of  his 
nativity. 

They  say  the  tides  of  the  ocean  ebb  and  flow  by  a  force 
which,  though  remote,  always  retains  its  power.  And  so  with 
this  man,  whether  he  rose  or  fell;  whether  he  stood  in  that 
giant-like  repose  that  distinguished  him  among  his  fellow  men, 
or  exercised  those  unequalled  powers,  which,  to  my  mind,  made 
him  the  foremost  figure  of  the  world,  yet  he  always  felt  the 
tender  and  invisible  chord  that  chained  him  to  his  native  rock. 
In  whatever  field  he  stood,  he  felt  the  benign  and  sobering 
influences  of  his  early  recollections.  They  were  the  rock  to 
which  he  clung  in  storms,  the  anchor  which  kept  his  head  to 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  COMMEMORATION       467 

the  wind,  the  balm  which  sustained  him  in  defeat,  and  en 
nobled  him  in  the  hour  of  triumph. 

I  shall  not  say  he  had  his  faults,  for  is  there  any  hope  that 
man  will  pass  through  this  vale  of  tears  without  them?  Is 
there  any  danger  that  his  fellow  men*  will  fail  to  detect  and 
proclaim  them?  He  was  not  small  in  anything.  He  was 
carved  in  deep  lines,  like  all  heroic  figures,  for  dangerous  alti 
tudes  and  great  purposes.  And  as  we  move  away  from  him, 
and  years  and  events  pass  between  us,  his  form  will  still  be 
visible  and  distinct,  for  such  characters  built  upon  courage 
and  faith,  and  that  affection  which  is  the  seed  of  both,  are 
not  the  playthings,  but  the  masters  of  time. 

How  long  the  names  of  men  will  last,  no  human  foresight 
can  discover,  but  I  believe  that  even  against  the  havoc  and 
confusion  in  which  so  many  names  go  down,  the  fame  of  Lin 
coln  will  stand  as  immovable  and  as  long  as  the  pyramids 
against  the  rustle  of  the  Egyptian  winds. 


THE  PITTSBURGH  COMMEMORATION 


THE  PITTSBUEG  COMMEMORATION 

SCHOOL  celebrations  marked  the  day  at  Pittsburg,  Penn 
sylvania,  as  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  school  children  taking  part  in 
this  memorial  tribute  to  Lincoln.  In  the  evening  there  were 
special  celebrations  held  in  the  Western  Pennsylvania  School 
for  the  Blind,  and  the  Pittsburg  Home  for  Deaf  Mutes. 

A  convocation  celebration  by  the  various  departments  of  the 
University  of  Pittsburg  was  held  in  Carnegie  Music  Hall  in 
the  afternoon,  while  the  women  of  Pittsburgh  church  organiza 
tions  gathered  together  in  the  afternoon  to  commemorate  the 
day.  Here  Lincoln  souvenirs  were  given  to  everyone  in  at 
tendance. 

The  Pittsburg  Association  of  Credit  Men  held  a  banquet  in 
the  evening,  but  the  important  event  of  the  day  was  the  cele 
bration  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  took  the  form 
of  a  banquet.  The  newly  elected  Vice-President-to-be,  Hon. 
James  S.  Sherman,  was  the  guest  of  honor,  and  the  orator  of 
the  occasion.  The  audience  was  in  a  rollicking  frame  of 
mind,  and  subjected  the  Vice-President-elect  to  much  affec 
tionate  raillery,  singing  ' '  Sunny  Jim, ' '  up  and  down  the  hall, 
and  hailing  the  procession  of  the  guests  of  honor  with  the 
softly  whistled  score  of  ' '  Here  Comes  the  Bride. ' '  The  audi 
ence  was  an  enthusiastic  one,  and  Mr.  Sherman's  speech,  "Lin 
coln:  The  Greatest  American/7  was  received  with  feeling  and 
applause. 

The  banquet  room  was  decorated  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
and  the  black  and  gold  colors  of  the  city.  The  banquet  was 
preceded  by  a  reception  at  seven  o'clock,  where  more  than  a 
thousand  people  came  to  shake  hands  with  the  guests  of  the 
day.  Besides  Vice-President-to-be  Sherman,  Congressman 
James  Eli  Watson,  of  Indiana,  and  the  Hon.  James  Scarlet 
were  on  the  programme.  The  Chairman  in  charge  of  the  ar- 

471 


472  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

rangements  for  the  reception  and  banquet  was  the  Hon.  John 
B.  Barbour,  Jr.,  while  President  Lee  S.  Smith,  of  the  Cham 
ber  of  Commerce,  presided  at  the  banquet,  Judge  J.  J.  Miller 
acting  as  toastmaster. 


LINCOLN:  THE  GREATEST  AMERICAN 

HON.   JAMES   SCHOOLCRAFT   SHERMAN 

WHAT  a  personality  was  Lincoln's — What  a  task  he  per 
formed — What  results  he  achieved!  The  life,  the 
work,  the  end,  are  exhaustingly  fascinating  in  their  pathos. 
His  heredity  and  environment  offered  no  hope  for  his  career. 
It  has  been  said  he  was  not  brought  up  ;  he  came  up.  Through 
hardest  struggle,  through  dismal  lack,  through  stark  necessity, 
he  came;  but  up,  up,  he  came,  and  stands  distinctively,  the 
American  nobleman. 

No  need  to  repeat  his  biography.  History  tells  that  he  rose 
unaided  from  nothing  to  the  executive  head  of  this  great 
nation,  and  his  life  has  been  the  favorite  illustration  of  authors 
and  orators  to  emphasize  the  possibilities  of  American  citizen 
ship. 

It  has  been  said  that  Napoleon,  Washington,  and  Lincoln 
were  children  of  destiny.  True,  mayhap,  of  Napoleon,  but 
not  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.  Napoleon  did  little  which, 
in  remembrance,  endears  him  to  his  people.  He  was  a  warrior, 
not  a  philosopher.  Washington  was,  to  a  degree,  both.  He 
assumed  command  of  the  armies,  sustained  and  encouraged 
by  a  united  people  smarting  under  the  yoke  of  a  monarchy, 
thirsting  for  independence  and  individual  liberty.  Washing 
ton  was  aware  of  his  strength  in  his  own  country,  and  the 
possibilities  and  probable  results  of  a  strong  resistance.  He 
had  studied  military  methods ;  he  knew  frontier  warfare. 
He  had  the  advantage  of  birth,  of  education,  of  early  asso 
ciation  with  cultivated  people.  More,  he  was  schooled  by  con 
tact  with  the  brightest  and  best  men  of  the  age,  and  by  severe 
and  trying  campaigns.  He  had  learned  the  lesson  of  experi- 


THE  PITTSBURG  COMMEMORATION  473 

ence,  had  seen  the  grand  future  possible  for  this  country  with 
her  affairs  properly  directed.  After  seven  years  of  a  success 
ful  warfare,  he  came  to  the  presidency,  equipped  by  study 
and  experience,  with  wisdom  and  enlightenment,  and  it  is 
small  wonder  that  he  stands  "  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. ' ' 

When  Lincoln  was  discovered  and  nominated — not  as  the 
unquestioned  choice  of  all  the  people,  but  rather  of  the  minor 
ity  of  a  party,  a  minority  made  into  a  majority,  apparently, 
by  means  of  political  tactics — the  situation  was  far  different. 
The  nation  was  rent  asunder,  opinion  was  divided,  and  a 
grave  constitutional  question  was  involved.  In  the  South  the 
dark  cloud  of  secession  had  already  appeared,  while  in  the 
North  there  were  mutterings  of  sympathy.  Men  were  being 
persecuted  for  their  beliefs;  the  right  of  freedom  of  thought 
and  expression  was  questioned,  and  a  whirlpool  of  discord  and 
dissension  was  gathering.  It  threatened  to  engulf  the  nation 
in  its  mighty  rush. 

At  such  a  moment  Lincoln  was  brought  forward.  How 
different  from  Napoleon,  whose  victories  on  the  field  of  battle, 
whose  brilliant  achievements  wherever  the  force  of  arms  was 
tried,  had  made  him  for  the  nonce  the  idol  of  his  impetuous 
people!  How  unlike  the  introduction  of  Washington,  when 
a  united,  harmonious  people,  desperate  from  long  suffering, 
were  ready  to  sacrifice,  to  do  and  die,  that  their  descendants 
might  enjoy  the  privileges  of  freedom  unfettered  by  a  govern 
ment  not  in  sympathy  with  their  aims,  their  purposes,  or  their 
needs ! 

Lincoln  had  none  of  the  advantages  or  encouragements  of 
many  of  his  predecessors.  He  was  untried,  almost  unknown. 
The  crisis  was  approaching ;  he  must  meet  it  or  fall.  That  is 
the  situation  pictured  by  the  after-lights ;  and  surely  by  intu 
ition  or  inspiration  he  so  viewed  it.  Not  the  liberty  of  the 
defenders  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  which  floated  victoriously 
over  Bunker  Hill,  and  Saratoga,  and  Bennington,  and  Oris- 
kany,  was  at  stake,  but  the  liberty  of  a  race  foreign  to  the 
country — a  race  brought  here  for  bondage  or  reared  in  slavery. 
Was  it  worth  fighting  for?  Many  in  the  North  said  "No!" 


474  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Was  it  a  question  which  could  be  constitutionally  acted  upon ! 
The  entire  South  said  "No!"  and  then  Abraham  Lincoln, 
with  dignity,  with  firmness,  and  with  a  spirit  which  could  have 
been  inspired  only  of  God,  grasped  the  helm  of  the  Ship  of 
State  and  pointed  its  course  directly  into  the  teeth  of  the 
storm.  His  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  unforged  the  fet 
ters  of  the  slaves,  united  the  North,  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  and 
patriotism  in  reverberation  over  the  land — until  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  boys  in  blue  swore  by  their  flag  and  by  their 
country  that  slavery  should  cease,  and  that  their  nation  should 
be  reunited  though  it  were  cemented  by  blood. 

A  child  of  destiny?  No!  An  American  boy,  a  man  of 
America.  Born,  bred,  and  reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  liberty, 
of  justice,  and  of  truth,  made  possible  only  by  Washington 
and  his  compatriots ;  broadened,  ripened,  and  educated  under 
the  sun  of  freedom;  endowed  with  physical  capabilities 
brought  to  their  greatest  perfection  by  years  of  toil  and  indus 
try  and  self-denial;  possessing  mental  strength  developed  by 
the  same  rigorous  discipline — he  was  fitted  to  lead,  and  the 
situation  brought  him  forward. 

His  appearance  was  at  the  most  critical  time  in  the  nation 's 
history.  He  met  his  responsibilities  superbly.  Gentle,  mild, 
and  forbearing,  his  private  and  official  careers  are  filled  with 
pictures  of  prose  and  poetry  which  throw  about  him  a  charm 
most  delicate  and  delightful.  His  homely,  quaint  humor 
brightens  with  age,  and  will  never  be  disassociated  from  his 
name,  or  copied  by  another. 

That  Lincoln  was  perhaps  the  greatest  American  will  not 
be  denied,  but  his  individuality  was  greater  than  his  personal 
ity.  It  was  not  merely  because  he  was  President  during  the 
Civil  War;  not  because  he  solved  its  stupendous  problems 
with  a  mildness  and  gentleness  and  without  the  least  display 
of  physical  power  or  authority;  not  because  he  marshalled 
armies  in  the  panoply  of  war  or  sent  navies  to  battle  against 
almost  impregnable  strongholds.  It  was  not  because  of  any 
of  these  things  that  his  memory  is  more  and  more  revered, 
and  his  name  more  and  more  cherished,  as  we  of  this  nation 
annually  meet  to  pay  homage  to  him,  to  impress  upon  our 


THE  PITTSBURG  COMMEMORATION  475 

children  that  America  produced,  developed,  and  honored 
such  a  man.  It  was  because  he  had  within  him  more  than 
statesmanship,  more  than  fervid  patriotism,  more  than  a  calm, 
dispassionate  element  of  judgment.  It  was  not  because  he 
sought  preferment;  not  that  he  considered  the  effect  upon 
personality,  or  what  the  future  might  say  of  him.  He  saw 
no  shadow  on  future  popularity,  so  anxiously  looked  for  and 
eo  carefully  avoided  by  the  politician.  He  is  not  to  be  meas 
ured  by  the  craft  or  the  selfish  sagacity  of  a  statesman.  It 
was  because  he  had  within  him  that  stern,  unyielding  sense  of 
duty.  He  saw  his  path  before  him  clearly  outlined,  and  he 
followed  it  regardless  of  obstacles — patient,  untiring,  possessed 
of  no  thought  of  what  the  morrow  might  have  in  store  for 
him  personally — confident  in  his  rugged  honesty  and  homely 
but  true  philosophy,  that  though  perhaps  misunderstood  and 
wrongly  criticised,  sooner  or  later  his  mission  would  be  accom 
plished  and  his  country  once  more  stand  forth  reunited  and 
rejuvenated,  the  greatest  nation  of  all  time,  glorifying  in  her 
strength,  her  broadness,  her  humanity,  and  her  achievements. 

Gentle  beyond  compare,  patient  beyond  belief,  his  country 
and  his  duty  were  his  creed,  and  for  them  he  labored  un 
ceasingly  and  suffered  patiently.  "It  is  not  a  question  of 
Lincoln,  of  Democrat  or  Republican,  but  a  question  of  our 
country/'  he  once  said  when  reproached  for  a  contemplated 
action.  It  was  that  sentiment,  "our  country/'  which  guided 
him.  For  that  country  he  gave  himself  without  reserve,  his 
rare  talents,  his  immeasurable  love,  his  remarkable  sagacity — 
his  life.  All  were  freely  laid  upon  the  altar  of  home  and 
country. 

Careful  and  close  inspection  of  his  life  reveals  no  single 
act  which  would  bring  him  forth  as  a  hero,  or  a  man  to  be 
revered  in  after  years.  No  one  of  his  acts  beckons  posterity 
to  cherish  his  memory  or  to  applaud  his  name.  Still,  there 
he  stands,  gentle,  yet  firm;  calm,  yet  unyielding;  facing  the 
storm  of  revolution;  meeting  defeat  on  bloody  battlefields; 
earning  victories  at  the  expense  of  thousands  of  lives  and  mil 
lions  of  treasure;  steadfastly  facing  the  storm,  unmoved  by 
protest,  denunciation,  or  praise,  unwaveringly  and  persistently 


476  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

pushing  forward  to  that  result  which  should  bring  peace  with 
honor,  and  cement  this  nation  in  ties  of  brotherhood  so  strong, 
so  enduring,  that  it  would  seem  beyond  the  bounds  of  possi 
bility  that  they  should  again  be  severed. 

Great  presidents  have  come  and  gone;  great  generals  have 
achieved  victories  that  have  moved  the  world  to  poems  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving;  great  statesmen  have  by  diplomacy 
gathered  for  us  fruits  of  politics,  and  laurels  of  world-respect, 
which  have  given  us  momentary  pride  and  moved  us  well  nigh 
to  national  egotism ;  but  above  and  beyond  all  in  the  procession 
of  the  great  men  of  our  past  history,  stands  Lincoln.  Lin 
coln — not  seeking  greatness,  yet  the  greatest  of  all!  Lincoln 
— tried  by  fire,  tempted  by  calls  of  what  seemed  humanity! 
Lincoln — the  gentle,  yet  holding  true  the  course  of  the  Ship 
of  State  amid  the  most  fearful  carnage  internecine  strife  had 
ever  inflicted,  his  heart  glowing  with  sympathy  and  sorrow, 
and  his  gaze  longing  for  the  sight  of  the  olive  branch  of  peace, 
hid  by  the  tempestuous  clouds  of  war !  Lincoln — bearing  the 
crucifix  of  rebellion,  never  for  a  moment  hesitating  or  halting, 
and  finally,  when  the  end  was  reached  and  the  labor  of  recon 
truction  begun,  giving  up  his  life  for  the  cause  which  brought 
forth!  Well  might  have  been  his  last  words,  "It  is  not 
a  question  of  Lincoln,  but  of  our  country. ' ' 

It  is  because  of  all  of  this  that  we  of  this  country  speak 
of  Lincoln  to-night.  It  will  be  because  of  this,  as  the  years 
go  by,  and  as  the  transcendent  qualities  and  benign  nature 
of  the  man  are  studied  and  appreciated  by  future  generations, 
that  his  memory  will  be  recalled  more  eloquently  and  more 
vividly  by  an  appreciative  country. 

As  time  passes,  as  we  draw  further  away  from  the  days  on 
earth  of  the  truest  and  best  men,  their  figures  stand  out 
against  the  background  of  the  history  of  ages,  brightened  and 
illuminated — yes,  magnified,  magnified  to  human  eyes.  In 
Statuary  Hall  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington  is  a  life-size 
statue  of  Washington.  The  thousands  who  halt  before  it, 
almost  in  reverence,  each  year,  are  impressed  with  the  thought 
— "Was  he  no  larger  than  that?"  His  deeds  and  his  memory 


THE  PITTSBURG  COMMEMORATION  477 

have  so  wrought  themselves  upon  our  imagination,  that  we 
look  to  see,  in  the  representation  of  his  form,  a  giant  in 
stature.  With  Lincoln  fresher  in  our  minds,  with  those  among 
us  who  knew  him  in  his  life,  his  statue  seems  but  that  of  a 
pigmy  in  comparison  with  the  results  he  achieved. 

Future  generations  will  pause  before  the  image  of  the 
martyr  patriot  to  wonder  if  the  figures  were  not  reduced  by 
the  sculptor  to  accommodate  some  niche  among  the  glorious 
men  in  our  national  history. 

The  traveller  fortunate  enough  to  traverse  America 's  west 
ern  coast,  north  of  the  Golden  Gate,  sees  upon  the  one  side 
the  blue,  never-resting  bosom  of  the  Pacific,  disappearing  only 
under  the  steady  music  of  its  rolling  waves  breaking  on  the 
shore;  on  the  other  side  the  rugged  peaks  of  the  Sierra 
Nevadas.  And  in  the  northward  journey  are  seen,  now  and 
again,  standing  out  against  the  sky,  like  nature's  everlasting 
sentinels,  those  magnificent  snow-capped  peaks,  Shasta,  and 
Adams,  and  Jefferson,  and  Hood,  The  Sisters,  and  last — • 
grandest  and  greatest  of  all — Mount  Rainier,  eternally  snow 
capped,  towering  fifteen  thousand  feet  into  the  sky.  I  remem 
ber  to  have  stood  at  Tacoma  and  gazed  with  awe  upon  that 
pearly  wonder — fifty  miles  away  and  yet  so  grand  and  great 
that  its  base  seemed  at  my  very  feet.  I  remember  to  have 
seen  it  when  the  valley  between  it  and  me  was  filled  with 
the  storm  cloud,  and  yet  above  the  cloud  this  matchless  peak 
towered  a  mile  into  the  sky.  I  remember  that  when  I  left 
Tacoma  it  was  at  night,  and  that  after  riding  all  night  upon 
the  cars  the  first  object  that  met  my  gaze  in  the  morning  was 
this  same  beautiful  mountain  peak,  seeming  grander,  higher, 
more  impressive  than  ever. 

So  it  seems  to  me  it  is  with  Lincoln.  Grand  and  strong  and 
immutable  in  his  greatness  as  he  appeared  in  life,  towering 
as  he  did  above  the  storm  cloud  of  war  that  surrounded  him ; 
yet  viewed  as  we  view  him  to-day  through  more  than  four 
decades  of  history,  he  seems  even  greater,  more  nearly  divinely 
sent  than  before. 

This  is  the  test  of  true  greatness.     Lincoln  sustains  that 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

test.  No  flaws  can  be  discovered  in  his  character,  inspect  it 
as  you  will.  His  is  a  fame  which  will  shine  with  undying 
lustre ;  his  a  name  that  will  never  be  forgotten. 

The  sacredness  of  the  Constitution,  the  unity  of  the  States, 
the  true  freedom  of  all  the  people — for  which  he  labored 
and  prayed,  for  which  his  life  went  out  just  as  the  dawn  of 
promise  was  breaking — are  ours,  still  ours;  ours  to  preserve 
and  defend  as  he  pointed  the  way ;  and  we  will  preserve  and 
defend  them.  Please  God  we  may  never  again  lose  a  chosen 
leader  by  the  hand  of  one  whose  disordered  brain  directs 
it  to  fire  the  fatal  shot.  Please  God  that  he  whom  the  people 
choose  to  direct  the  nation 's  destinies  during  the  coming  years 
may,  in  the  strength  and  vigor  of  perfect  health,  discharge 
those  duties  to  the  end.  And  as  Lincoln  inspired  confidence 
and  faith — so,  calm,  placid,  serene — may  he  awaken  a  firm 
conviction  that  our  future  is  secure.  His  hand  upon  the 
wheel,  his  eye  upon  the  chart,  may  we  be  inspired  to  say : 

"Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State! 
Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great; 
Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  Workman  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  each  sail,  each  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
With  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  made  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 
Fear  not  the  sudden  sound  and  shock, 
"Pis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock, 
JT  is  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale. 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest  roar, 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes  are  all  with  thee, 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee— are  all  with  thee!" 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION 

HON.  GEORGE  K.  PECK,  of  Chicago,  former  President  of 
the  American  Bar  Association,  has  rendered  many  beau 
tiful  tributes  to  Lincoln ;  on  the  occasion  of  the  Centenary  he 
spoke  at  his  old  home  at  Janesville,  Wisconsin. 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  OPPORTUNITY 

HON.   GEORGE  B.   PECK 

IT  is  very  fitting  and  appropriate  that  this  association  of 
lawyers  should  render  homage  to  one  of  their  calling,  who, 
after  winning  high  professional  distinction,  took  to  himself 
a  glory  and  a  fame  that  cannot  die.  You  do  well  to  remember 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  lawyer.  If  you  will  recall  his 
last  great  years — the  years  by  which  the  world  knows  him — 
you  will  feel  a  certain  pride  in  belonging  to  that  profession 
which  he  chose  in  youth  and  whose  principles  and  traditions 
were  his  guide  and  monitors  to  the  end.  In  all  that  majestic 
on-marching  career  we  may  see — nay,  we  cannot  fail  to  see — 
that  he  followed  with  almost  religious  devotion  the  approving 
voice  and  sanction  of  the  law.  Mark  the  solemn  language 
which  was  the  real  keynote  of  the  First  Inaugural :  "I  hold, ' ' 
he  said,  "that  in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the 
Constitution,  the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual. ' '  In  that 
sentence  it  was  the  lawyer  who  spoke,  giving  to  the  states 
men  who  surrounded  him,  the  fundamental  idea  upon  which 
it  was  his  purpose  to  stand.  It  was  a  brave  pronouncement. 
Certainly  it  was  also  political  wisdom  and  political  truth,  but 
above  these  the  clear  vision  of  Abraham  Lincoln  saw  the 
organic  law  of  a  nation  consecrated  and  enthroned.  I  bid  you, 

481 


482  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

gentlemen  of  the  bar,  take  mindful  heed  of  that  great  ideal 
which  lifted  Abraham  Lincoln  to  such  lofty  heights. 

This  much  I  have  thought  to  say  of  him,  because  he  be 
longed  to  our  guild.  He  knew,  as  we  do,  the  rigor  of  a  law 
suit;  he  had  felt  the  joy  of  victory  and  the  smart  of  defeat; 
and,  I  do  not  doubt,  the  memory  of  the  days  when  he  travelled 
the  circuit,  and  of  forensic  contests  in  which  he  had  taken 
part,  nerved  and  strengthened  him  in  the  weary  years  when 
nerve  and  strength  were  sorely  needed.  But  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  not  a  mere  lawyer,  and  history  has  given  him  a  fame  so 
universal  that  the  world  hardly  remembers  he  belonged  to 
our  profession.  But,  if  we  cannot  claim  him  simply  because 
we  are  lawyers,  we  may  yet  rejoice  that,  as  citizens  of  the 
Kepublic,  we  participate  with  all  that  bear  the  American  name 
in  his  unfading  renown. 

In  very  truth  he  belongs  alike  to  all  who  have  shared  the 
precious  heritage  which  he  left  to  his  countrymen.  He  belongs 
to  them  as  the  lighthouse  does  to  the  mariner  who  steers  his 
bark  by  its  steadfast  ray.  He  belongs  to  all  who  cherish  the 
ideas,  the  hope,  and  the  faith  that  were  in  him.  Whatever  sad 
and  heroic  memories  cluster  around  his  great  career,  some 
thing  of  their  glory,  some  breath  of  their  fragrance,  rests  upon 
every  man  who  strives  to  make  the  United  States  of  America 
such  a  nation  as  Abraham  Lincoln  strove  to  make  it. 

When  we  think  of  the  name  that  is  in  every  heart  and  upon 
every  lip,  how  like  a  dream  seems  the  century  that  is  past! 
In  a  rude  Kentucky  cabin  a  hundred  years  ago  this  very  day, 
the  curtain  was  rising  upon  a  drama  which  was  destined  to  be 
of  epic  grandeur.  Recalling  the  hour  and  the  event,  we  al 
most  seem  to  hear  the  rhythmic  beat  of  the  years  as  they  speed 
to  their  eternal  goal. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  and  said  with  truth,  that  the  American 
character,  considered  as  a  type,  has  not  yet  been  formed  and 
moulded  into  shape.  Undoubtedly  it  is  still  plastic  and  muta 
ble;  but  we  must  remember  that  the  processes  of  time  are 
slow.  The  entire  period  since  the  western  continent  dawned 
upon  Europe  is  but  a  brief  span  in  comparison  with  the  cen 
turies  which  have  been  fusing  Norman  and'  Saxon  and  Dane 


" 


•JTWt/uj 


Facsimile   of   Manuscript  Tribute   from   Dr.  Henry   van  Dyke 


'•§  'o 

^H  --^ 


II 


Ud 

s     t 


1 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION  483 

into  the  English  race;  and  yet  we  have  something  to  show 
when  great  names  are  counted,  something  to  remember  when 
great  deeds  are  told.  Abraham  Lincoln  outshines  the  Plan- 
tagenets,  and  ennobles  common  blood  forevermore. 

The  laws  of  descent  are  mysterious,  if  not  altogether  fathom 
less.  Science,  indeed,  tells  us  that  men  are,  in  their  essential 
qualities,  the  result  and  product  of  all  their  ancestors.  But 
how  and  why  it  is — who  can  tell?  The  lineage  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  so  humble,  his  environment  and  that  of  his  family 
so  narrow  and  so  steeped  in  poverty,  it  seems  like  a  miracle 
that  he  should  ever  have  burst  such  bonds.  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
in  their  great  work,  after  describing  his  wretched  birthplace, 
say:  "And  there,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  unpromising 
circumstances  that  ever  witnessed  the  advent  of  a  hero  into 
the  world,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  on  the  twelfth  day  of 
February,  1809. ' '  In  this  event  there  was  nothing  to  attract 
attention — absolutely  no  prophecy  of  the  future  latently  slum 
bering  in  the  new  born  child.  Least  of  all  was  there  any  hint 
of  the  solemn  pageantry  with  which  a  great  nation  this  day 
commemorates  that  lowly  birth.  Birthdays  are  rests  and 
pauses  in  the  symphony  of  time,  and  in  observing  the  great 
and  notable  ones  we  set  history  to  music. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  parents  were  Virginians,  but  the  an 
cestral  strain  flowed  from  Old  England  through  New  England, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  before  it  reached  Virginia. 
The  first  of  his  race  to  settle  in  America  was  Samuel  Lincoln, 
who  came  from  Norwich,  England,  in  163*8,  and  cast  his  lot 
with  the  God-fearing  settlers  who  had  located  in  the  forest 
solitudes  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts.  Later,  his  son  Mor- 
decai  pushed  on  to  New  Jersey,  and  thence  to  Pennsylvania. 
John,  who  was  Mordecai's  son,  returned  from  Pennsylvania 
to  New  Jersey,  but  soon  sought  another  home  in  Rockingham 
County,  Virginia,  and  through  him  the  blood  of  the  Hingham 
Puritan  flowed  uninterruptedly  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  They 
were  a  family  of  frequent  migrations,  ever  hungering  for  the 
wilderness  and  the  frontier.  If  you  follow  their  footsteps, 
you  will  be  led  from  Massachusetts  to  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl 
vania,  Virginia,  and  Kentucky,  and,  after  the  birth  of  Abra- 


484  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ham  Lincoln,  to  Indiana  and  Illinois.  Out  of  these 
wanderings,  perhaps  by  reason  of  them,  or,  it  may  be,  in 
spite  of  them,  was  evolved  the  highest  type  of  man  this 
nation  has  known.  And  that  is  the  mystery  of  it  all,  from 
every  point  of  view.  Human  wisdom  fails  utterly  when  it 
grapples  such  a  question.  If  any  answer  shall  ever  come, 
it  must  be  in  that  far-off  ultimate  region  where  the  mind 
can  get  nearer  than  now  to  the  fugitive  wherefore,  and  the 
ever  elusive  why.  What  gave  so  humble  a  plant  such  a 
noble  fruitage  is  a  problem  we  can  not  yet  solve.  But  this 
we  know,  that  it  is  our  boon  and  privilege  to  behold,  admire, 
and  love. 

Carlyle,  within  certain  limitations,  was  not  far  from  right 
in  adoring  heroes,  and  he  was  more  than  right  in  seeing  that 
heroes  do  not  of  necessity  wear  plumes  and  sabres.  It  is 
the  meek  and  not  the  mighty  who  are  promised  the  inher 
itance  of  the  earth.  Francis  of  Assisi,  out  on  the  mountain 
side,  calling  the  birds  to  come  and  perch  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  beckoning  the  poor  peasantry  to  follow  him  in  the  path 
way  to  the  higher  life,  is  a  nobler  figure  than  the  great 
Medici,  bent  with  the  weight  of  his  tinsel  and  his  broidery. 
In  the  same  way  it  may  be  truly  said  that  Luther  was  a 
greater  conqueror  than  Von  Moltke,  and  Victor  Hugo  in 
exile  a  more  potent  force  than  the  Third  Napoleon  in  the 
Tuileries.  Ideal  characters  cannot  be  made  to  order.  They 
must  stand  for  something  more  than  accident,  for  something 
better  than  titles  and  dignities. 

You  do  well  to  celebrate  this  day,  and  you  will  be  wise  if, 
here  and  now,  you  pledge  a  new  and  increasing  fealty  to 
the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  noble  life.  The 
times  in  which  we  live  are  filled  with  high  appeals  and 
solemn  warnings,  and  yet  we  are  in  danger  of  forgetting 
plain  old  truths.  The  age  is  restless.  Everywhere  there  is 
discontent,  partly  right  and  partly  wrong;  but  they  greatly 
err  who  imagine  that  the  white  crest  upon  the  wave  is  a 
true  measure  of  the  depths  below.  The  dogmatist  and  the 
doctrinaire,  whose  lips  have  hardly  been  moistened  by  the 
dew  of  wisdom,  think  that  they,  above  all  others,  have  a 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          485 

message  to  which  the  age  must  listen.  And  thus  it  happens 
that  things  are  often  made  to  seem  more,  and  sometimes  far 
less,  than  they  really  are.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  it  should 
be  so.  Let  us  not  complain,  for  it  is  a  wise  and  wholesome 
liberty  which  declares  that  every  creed  and  doctrine  shall 
be  heard,  and  every  voice  shall  have  its  say.  But  when 
the  crickets  pipe  and  chirrup,  it  is  pleasant  to  think  that 
somewhere  there  is  peace;  and  when  summer  heats  are  upon 
us,  it  is  sweet  to  rest  in  the  shadow  of  an  illustrious  name. 
"He  was  not  of  an  age,  but  for  all  time,"  was  the  noble 
tribute  of  Ben  Jonson  to  Shakespeare,  and  it  is  as  widely 
true  of  him  who  was  the  gentlest,  bravest,  wisest  leader  that 
ever  wore  the  name  of  American  citizen. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  great — not  fully  knowing,  but,  I 
think,  always  believing  in  his  own  greatness.  In  him  com 
mon  sense  took  on  flesh  and  blood.  Rooted  in  humble  soil, 
his  life  grew  and  strengthened  and  unconsciously  flowered 
into  fame.  If  you  compare  him  with  other  statesmen — with 
Pitt,  or  Fox,  or  Palmerston — you  will  see  that  he  had  learned 
the  secret  never  revealed  to  them,  the  sublime  art  of  leading 
while  seeming  to  follow.  He  is  sometimes  called  the  founder 
of  the  Republican  Party.  He  was  not  that,  but  he  was  more. 
When,  in  1858,  he  made  that  memorable  canvass  of  Illinois, 
his  party  was  a  great  instrument,  discordant  and  untuned. 
He  touched  its  chords  and  straightway  a  nation  leaped  into 
life  to  follow  its  enchanting  strains.  Some,  perhaps,  are 
here  to-day  who  knew  him;  all  have  felt  in  their  veins  the 
thrill  of  his  inspiring  words.  In  those  early  days  no  one 
fathomed  him.  To  his  neighbors  he  was  a  plain,  homely 
man,  but  behind  that  rugged  face  and  the  ill-fitting  clothes 
there  dwelt  the  soul  of  a  ruler.  No  herald  announced  his 
coming,  no  trumpet  sounded  when  a  new  Agamemnon — not 
king  of  men,  but  leader  of  men — rose  from  the  prairies. 
"Is  not  a  man  better  than  a  town?"  asks  Emerson.  Verily, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  proclaiming  the  unwelcome  truth  that  had 
just  begun  to  dawn,  was  more  than  a  city  with  all  its  domes 
and  turrets  flashing  against  the  sky.  We  often  talk  of  men 
who  have  a  mission.  Think  of  him  in  all  that  great  debate, 


486  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

sounding  into  unwilling  ears  the  prophetic  figure  of  the 
"house  divided  against  itself."  Again  and  again  it  rang 
out,  like  an  alarum  bell,  calling  upon  men  to  bestir  them 
selves  if  they  would  avert  the  gathering  wrath. 

And  the  storm  came — but  the  house  stood.  It  stood  be 
cause  Abraham  Lincoln  lived  to  set  it  right  and  to  make 
all  who  dwelt  therein  free,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  his  own 
immortal  pen. 

It  is  something  more  than  a  sentiment  which  makes  us 
love  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  though  sentiment 
alone  is  a  sufficient  reason.  The  years  have  lifted  him  into 
the  region  of  legend  and  tradition.  But  there  are  still  among 
us  men  whose  memories  go  back  to  the  days  when  he  carried 
the  nation's  burdens.  They  remember  how  the  world  opened 
its  eyes  to  marvel  at  his  never-failing  judgment,  his  tender 
sympathy,  and  the  unconquerable  spirit  which  disaster  could 
not  shake  nor  victory  too  much  elate.  He  kept  his  even 
poise  in  good  and  in  evil  times.  No  President  before  or 
since  ever  selected  such  a  Cabinet.  He  chose  his  rivals  to 
be  his  advisers  and  easily  towered  above  them  all.  And 
yet  this  man,  so  sagacious  and  sensible,  had,  as  the  greatest 
always  have,  a  temperament  highly  wrought,  poetical,  mys 
tical,  almost  superstitious.  The  unseen  world  haunted  him 
like  a  vision.  To  him  was  given  that  "inward  eye"  of  which 
^Wordsworth  sang,  the  deep  perception  of  things  which  are 
precious  because  they  are  invisible.  It  seems  strange  to  us 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  believed  in  the  dreams  that  came  to 
him  before  great  victories  and  defeats;  but  it  is  because  we 
cannot  fully  comprehend  a  nature  in  which,  if  there  had 
not  been  some  vent,  soul  and  body  would  have  sunk  together 
under  the  terrible  strain  that  was  upon  him.  In  the  midst 
of  it  all  a  merciful  solace  came  to  him  in  that  sense  of 
humor  with  which  he  was  so  largely  endowed.  Only  fools 
are  always  serious.  Abraham  Lincoln's  humor  gives  him  a 
place  in  the  first  order  of  minds.  Laughter  and  tears  are 
next  of  kin.  The  same  pen  that  wrote  "Hamlet"  gave  to 
the  world  the  rollicking  fun  of  Falstaff,  and  thereby  showed 
that  his  genius  was  "as  broad  and  general  as  the  casing  air." 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION  487 

If  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  a  pedant ;  if  he  had  been  simply 
an  able  lawyer ;  nay,  if  he  had  been  only  a  statesman,  instead 
of  a  Man,  you  would  never  have  heard  of  his  stealing  silently 
out  of  the  White  House  at  night,  out  under  the  midnight 
sky,  alone,  to  think  of  the  old  days  by  the  Sangamon  and  to 
brood  over  the  unknown  future  and  the  veil  which  hung 
between  him  and  his  destiny. 

The  mythical  and  the  romantic  have  already  gathered  their 
stories  and  wreathed  them  about  his  name.  The  age  of 
chivalry  has  passed,  and  this  unromantic  century  does  not 
readily  accept  the  traditional  and  the  unreal;  and  yet  King 
Arthur  and  the  Cid  are  no  more  heroes  in  the  fabulous  tales 
of  their  knightly  deeds  than  is  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the 
quaint  and  curious  anecdotes  of  his  life.  He  is  the  only 
great  man  in  history  whom  we  can  make  seem  like  ourselves, 
the  plain,  everyday  people.  Who  knew  as  he  did  how  to 
say  the  right  word?  Who,  like  him,  could  touch  the  popular 
heart  when  it  was  ready  to  break,  and  make  it  beat  again 
with  his  own  high  resolves?  We  took  our  courage  from  him, 
and  the  shattered  armies  filled  up  when  he  sounded  the 
summons  to  come. 

The  great  crisis  of  his  life,  as  all  the  world  knows,  was 
the  proclamation  of  freedom.  It  has  been  glorified  in  history, 
poetry  and  art.  And  yet,  resplendent  as  it  was,  he  gave  to 
it  none  of  the  dramatic  coloring  which  usually  accompanies 
such  events.  It  was,  perhaps,  an  inspiration,  but  it  was 
not  such  as  suddenly  came  to  Napoleon,  when  he  called  upon 
the  Pyramids  and  past  ages  to  be  witnesses  of  his  genius. 
If  you  will  stop  to  consider,  you  will  see  how  the  very  great 
ness  of  it  forbade  any  of  the  tawdry  gilding  of  a  theatrical 
performance.  Others  might  be  thinking  of  such  things,  but 
he  had  "that  within  which  passeth  show."  Simplicity  is 
the  truest  sublimity.  And  thus  it  happened  that  the  greatest 
act  in  American  history — perhaps  in  all  history — went  forth 
only  as  an  appeal  to  "the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind 
and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God." 

And  then  his  prophecy  came  true.  The  house  ceased  to 
be  divided.  The  armies  of  the  Union,  pressing  forward  with 


488  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

new  hope,  carried  victory  and  freedom  together  and  made 
them  one.  History  has  given  Abraham  Lincoln  a  unique 
place.  He  had  power  greater  than  any  King  or  Emperor, 
and  he  used  it  as  modestly  as  a  village  pastor  might  wield 
his  influence  over  a  rural  congregation.  It  has  sometimes 
been  said  that  he  did  not  have  in  the  highest  sense  what  is 
known  as  executive  ability.  I  am  glad  that  he  did  not. 
Very  small  men  have  had  that.  But  he  had  what  is  better. 
He  was  granite  for  the  right,  but  yielding  as  water  when 
common  sorrows  touched  his  own  sad  heart. 

"The  better  angels  of  our  nature/'  of  which  he  spoke  in 
that  first'  sublime  appeal  to  his  countrymen,  were  living 
realities  to  him ;  and  many  a  time,  when  some  soldier  boy  had 
made  a  slip  from  the  rules  of  military  duty  and  discipline, 
those  "better  angels"  pleaded  for  him,  and  pleaded  not  in 
vain.  How  true  it  is  that  "spirits  are  not  finely  touched 
but  to  fine  issues."  Abraham  Lincoln's  nature  was  not  that 
which  is  commonly,  but  mistakenly,  supposed  to  dwell  in  the 
backwoodsman  and  the  rustic.  God  sets  his  seal  on  the  brow 
which  is  worthy  to  receive  it.  You  cannot  tell  what  subtle 
law  it  was  that  made  a  Warwickshire  village  flash  Shakespeare 
upon  the  world's  great  canvas,  nor  why  Burns  came  from 
an  Ayrshire  cottage  to  be  the  universal  singer  of  humanity. 
Equally,  it  is  beyond  our  ken  to  guess  why  Abraham  Lincoln, 
plain  and  homespun,  was  called  from  an  Illinois  prairie  to 
the  first  place  in  the  world. 

He  was  above  all  things  a  man;  strong,  resolute,  modest, 
too  great  to  be  proud,  too  deeply  introspective  not  to  see  his 
own  limitations  and  his  own  possibilities.  No  ruler  by  divine 
right  ever  had  more  true  dignity ;  no  laborer  driving  his  team 
afield,  more  true  humility.  As  Abraham  Lincoln,  he  never 
forgot  that  he  was  President;  as  President,  he  never  forgot 
that  he  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  more  than  conqueror. 
The  armies  triumphed  at  last;  but  greater  than  Atlanta  or 
Richmond  or  Appomattox  was  the  conquest  he  made  of  the 
world 's  opinions  and  the  world 's  heart.  Four  years  had  lifted 
him  into  the  secure  region  where  neither  malice  nor  envy 
nor  uncharitableness  can  ever  come  again.  And  what  years 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          489 

they  were!  Years  of  broken  hopes,  of  pride  crushed  under 
chariot  wheels,  years  of  disappointment  and  years  of  agony. 
Armies  had  gone  down  in  ruin,  and  generals  had  ridden  to 
defeat;  but  still  the  nation  waited,  patiently  trusting  the 
.leader  who  never  spoke  a  doubting  word.  We  lived  on  hope 
— "the  medicine  of  the  unhappy."  But  the  currents  came 
right  at  last.  Victories  began  to  crowd  upon  each  other, 
giving  assurance  that  fortune  had  repented  and  would  make 
atonement  for  the  past. 

Those  of  us  who  are  old  remember  how  the  Fourth  of  'July 
gained  a  new  lustre  at  Gettysburg,  and  was  given  a  deeper 
meaning  when  Vicksburg  opened  its  gates  and  the  river  flowed 
unvexed  to  the  sea.  And  then  the  months  went  on,  crowded 
with  thrilling  scenes,  as  if  a  new  Homer  were  chanting  another 
story  for  the  ages.  Every  day  some  shackle  was  broken; 
every  hour  some  slave  stood  up  and  thanked  God  that  he  was 
free.  In  that  last  triumphal  year  there  was  a  Wilderness 
to  be  crossed,  but  there  was  a  Grant  to  cross  it.  There  was 
a  sea  kissing  the  beach  by  Savannah,  but  there  was  a  Sherman 
eager  to  plant  the  flag  on  its  shore.  And  so  the  end  came 
in  glory  and  with  a  joy  that  never  would  find  words.  And 
with  the  end  came  death  and  immortality — 

"When  lilacs  last  in  the  dooryard  bloomed, 

And  the  great  star  early  drooped  in  the  western  sky  in  the  night, 
I  mourned,  and  yet  shall  mourn  with  ever  returning  Spring." 

Nature  has  griefs  that  claim  kinship  with  humanity.  The 
story  is  told  that  farmers  in  central  Illinois  insisted,  with 
quaint  but  touching  gravity,  that  the  brown  thrush  did  not 
sing  for  a  year  after  he  died.  When  he  ceased  to  breathe, 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  turned  to  the  group  of  mourners  standing 
by  his  bedside  and  said,  "Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages." 

It  is  true ;  and  the  times  in  which  we  live,  the  events  which 
we  have  witnessed,  or  that  have  come  to  us  from  those  who 
saw  and  heard  and  felt,  make  us  hostages  to  his  memory,  and 
pledge  us  to  that  universal  truth  whose  voice  pleads  for  every 
good  cause. 

It  is  an  inspiring  thing  to  follow  one  whose  leadership 


490  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

is  always  toward  what  is  best  in  American  citizenship.  View 
ing  that  greatest  figure  in  all  our  history,  we  cannot  fail  to 
see  that  he  was  absolutely  free  from  cant  and  affectation, 
doing  bravely  and  openly  the  things  he  conceived  to  be  his 
duty.  He  lived  in  plain  view  of  his  neighbors  and  friends, 
sharing  their  joys  and  sorrows,  doing  his  duty  after  the 
fashion  of  a  brave  and  honest  man.  Until  the  time  when 
the  nation  called  him  to  his  great  office,  he  might  have  been 
counted — and,  I  suppose,  was  counted,  in  some  sense — a  politi 
cian,  but  I  have  never  heard  that  he  was  ashamed  of  the  fact, 
or  had  cause  to  be  ashamed.  Undoubtedly  he  recognized,  and 
it  is  one  proof  of  his  greatness,  that  in  every  constitutional 
government,  parties,  notwithstanding  their  blemishes  and  im 
perfections,  are  the  forces  upon  which  statesmen  and  patriots 
and  the  people  themselves  must  rely.  If  you  would  make 
steam  work,  you  must  harness  it  into  the  mechanism  of  an 
engine.  If  you  would  make  principles  effective,  you  must 
organize  them  into  moral  batteries  which  will  break  down  the 
forces  that  stand  in  their  path. 

The  large,  well-rounded  nature  of  Abraham  Lincoln  always 
reached  out  for  high  essentials,  but  never  wasted  time  on 
small  abstractions.  Slavery  in  all  its  forms  was  hideous  to 
him,  and  he  opposed  its  extension  with  all  the  strength  of 
his  rugged  nature,  but,  recognizing  its  constitutional  sanctions, 
he  never  thought  of  disturbing  it  in  the  States  where  it  was 
protected  by  law  until,  to  save  the  Union  and  to  crush  the 
Rebellion,  he  sentenced  it  to  death. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  apostle  of  opportunity.  Doing 
always  the  duty  that  lay  nearest,  he  worked  with  the  tools 
that  were  at  hand.  He  knew — and  we  must  learn — that  ma 
jorities  and  minorities  may  be  right  or  wrong;  but  whatever 
is  best  will  some  day  come  if  only  patience  stands  on  guard. 

How  paltry  seem  the  little  contentions  of  little  men !  More 
than  any  other  of  our  statesmen,  Abraham  Lincoln  stands 
for  that  largeness  of  view,  that  serene  balance  of  mind, 
which  is  the  true  evidence  of  genius.  And  that  is  our  highest 
lesson  to-day  and  the  lesson  for  the  centuries  to  come.  Above 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION  491 

all  else,  Abraham  Lincoln  leads  us  away  from  things  which 
are  petty  and  ignoble  to  the  heights — always  to  the  heights. 

Comrades  of  the  Grand  Army,  more  than  any  others  in 
this  great  assemblage,  you  are  the  sure  and  concrete  proof 
of  American  patriotism.  You  have  worn  the  blue,  you  have 
carried  the  flag,  and  you  have  stood  in  rank  when  the  air  was 
filled  with  scream  of  shot  and  shell.  But  to-day  the  peace  for 
which  you  fought  rests  upon  you  as  a  blessing  and  a  benedic 
tion. 

Let  me  salute  you  in  soldier  fashion  and  give  you  heart 
and  hand  in  memory  of  the  old  days  and  the  old  cause.  It 
must  needs  be  that  time  and  frost  and  the  years  that  never 
stop  have  stiffened  our  joints  and  given  us  the  stoop  of  age, 
but  shall  the  currents  of  our  hearts  be  slackened  ?  Comrades, 
we  are  old;  but  there  are  infinite  memories  which  invoke  us 
to  be  true  to  the  cause  which  was  the  love  of  our  youth. 
When  fife  and  drum  were  sounding  it  was  easy  to  keep  step 
to  every  call,  and  now,  when  our  lives  have  almost  reached 
the  end,  and  our  walk  is  slow  and  heavy,  let  us  proudly  re 
member  that  it  was  Abraham  Lincoln  who  summoned  us  to 
defend  a  government  ''of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people." 


AN  EX-SLAVE'S  TRIBUTE  TO  THE  EMANCIPATOR* 

DR.    BOOKER   T.   WASHINGTON 

WHEN  I  look  back  it  seems  to  me  that  almost  the  first 
name  I  learned,  aside  from  those  of  the  people  who 
lived  on  or  near  the  Virginia  plantation  where  I  was  born, 
was  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  who,  forty-six  years  ago  last 
month,  signed  the  Proclamation  which  set  my  people  free. 

The  circumstances  under  which  I  first  heard  the  name  of 
the  great  emancipator  were  these:  When  the  war  broke  out 
I  was  a  small  boy  on  a  plantation  in  Franklin  County,  in 
the  southwestern  corner  of  Virginia.  We  were  living  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  country  and,  although  the  war  was  going 
on  all  around  us,  we  saw  little  of  it,  except  when  we  saw 
them  brought  back  again — as  we  did  sometimes — dead. 

My  mother  was  the  cook  on  our  plantation  and  as  I  grew 
up  and  was  able  to  make  myself  useful,  my  work  was  to 
attend  my  master's  table  at  meal  time.  In  the  dining-room 
there  was  an  arrangement  by  which  a  number  of  fans  that 
hung  to  the  rafters  over  the  table  could  be  moved  slowly 
back  and  forth  by  pulling  a  string.  It  was  my  business  to 
work  these  fans  at  meal  time,  and  that,  as  I  remember,  was 
the  first  work  I  ever  did.  As  a  result,  however,  I  was  present 
at  all  the  meals  and  heard  all  the  conversation  that  went  on 
there.  Incidentally  I  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  causes  and 
the  progress  of  the  War,  and  though  I  understood  very  little 
of  what  I  heard,  there  was  one  name  that  stuck  fast  in  my 
memory  and  that  was  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
reason  that  I  remembered  this  name  more  than  the  others,  was 
because  it  was  the  one  name  that  I  encountered  at  the  "big 
house,"  which  I  heard  repeated  in  different  tones  and  with 
different  significance  in  the  cabins  of  the  slaves. 

*  Copyright,  1909,  by  The  Chicago  Tribune. 

492 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          493 

Many  a  night  before  the  dawn  of  day  I  have  been  awakened 
to  find  the  figure  of  my  dear  mother  bending  over  me  as  I 
lay  huddled  up  in  a  corner  of  the  kitchen,  praying  that 
"Marse  Lincoln"  might  succeed  and  that  some  day  I  might 
be  free.  Under  these  circumstances  the  name  of  Lincoln  made 
a  great  impression  upon  me,  and  I  never  forgot  the  circum 
stances  under  which  I  first  heard  it. 

Among  the  masses  of  the  negro  people  on  the  plantations 
during  the  War,  all  their  dreams  and  hopes  of  freedom  were 
in  some  way  or  other  coupled  with  the  name  of  Lincoln. 
When  the  slaves  sang  those  rude  plantation  hymns,  in  which 
thoughts  of  heaven  and  salvation  were  mingled  with  thoughts 
of  freedom,  I  suspect  they  frequently  confused  the  vision 
of  the  Saviour  with  that  of  the  Emancipator,  and  so  salvation 
and  freedom  came  to  mean  sometimes  pretty  much  the  same 
thing. 

There  is  an  old  plantation  hymn  that  runs  somewhat  as 
follows : 

"We'll  soon  be  free, 
We  '11  soon  be  free, 
When  de  Lord  will  call  us  home. 
My  brudder,  how  long, 
My  brudder,  how  long, 
'Fore  we  done  sufferin'  here? 
It  won't  be  long, 
It  won't  be  long, 
'Fore  de  Lord  will  call  us  home." 

When  that  song  was  first  sung,  the  "freedom"  of  which 
it  speaks  was  the  freedom  that  comes  after  death,  and  the 
"home"  to  which  it  referred  was  Heaven.  After  the  War 
broke  out,  however,  the  slaves  began  to  sing  these  freedom 
songs  with  greater  vehemence,  and  they  gained  a  new  and 
more  definite  meaning.  To  such  an  extent  was  this  the  case 
that  in  Georgetown,  South  Carolina,  it  is  said  that  negroes  were 
put  in  jail  for  singing  the  song  which  I  have  quoted. 

When  Lincoln,  in  April,  1865,  entered  Richmond  imme 
diately  after  it  had  been  evacuated  by  the  Confederate  armies, 
the  colored  people,  to  whom  it  seemed  almost  as  if  the  "last 


494  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

day"  had  come,  greeted  the  strange,  kindly  figure  of  the 
President  as  if  he  had  been  their  Saviour  instead  of  merely 
their  liberator. 

There  is  a  story  of  one  old  Aunty  who  had  a  sick  child 
in  her  arms  when  the  President  passed  through  the  city. 
The  child  was  alarmed  at  the  surrounding  riot,  and  was 
crying  to  come  home,  but  the  good  woman  kept  trying  to 
get  the  child  to  gaze  at  the  President,  which  she  was  afraid 
to  do,  and  she  would  try  to  turn  the  child's  head  in  that 
direction,  and  would  turn  around  herself  in  order  to  accom 
plish  the  same  object. 

''See  yeah,  honey,"  she  would  say,  "look  at  de  Saviour, 
an'  you  will  git  well.  Touch  de  hem  of  his  garment,  honey, 
an'  yur  pain  will  be  done  gone." 

As  the  years  have  gone  by,  we  have  all  learned,  white 
folks  and  colored  people,  North  and  South,  how  much  the 
country  as  a  whole  owes  to  the  man  who  liberated  the  slaves. 
There  is  no  one  now,  North  or  South,  who  believes  that 
slavery  was  a  good  thing,  even  for  those  who  seemed  to 
profit  most  by  it ;  but  hard  and  cruel  as  the  system  frequently 
was  in  the  case  of  the  black  man,  the  white  man  suffered 
quite  as  much  from  the  evils  that  it  produced.  In  order  to 
hold  the  negro  in  slavery,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  him  in 
ignorance.  The  result  was  that  the  South  condemned  itself, 
not  merely  to  employ  none  but  the  poorest  and  most  expensive 
labor,  but  what  was  worse,  to  use  all  its  higher  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  energies  in  defending  before  the  world 
its  right  to  hold  another  race,  not  merely  in  a  condition  of 
ignorance,  but  of  moral  and  spiritual  degradation. 

There  is  no  task  that  an  individual  or  a  people  can  under 
take  which  is  so  ungrateful,  and  so  certain,  in  the  long  run, 
to  fail,  as  that  of  holding  down  another  individual  or  another 
race  that  is  trying  to  rise.  It  is  not  possible,  you  know,  for 
an  individual  to  hold  another  individual  down  in  the  gutter 
without  staying  down  there  with  him.  So  it  is  not  possible 
for  one  race  to  devote  a  large  share  of  its  time  and  attention 
to  keeping  another  race  down,  without  losing  some  time  and 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          495 

some  energy  that  might  otherwise  have  been  used  in  raising 
itself  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 

Under  the  influence  of  slavery  the  South  was  fast  getting 
out  of  touch  and  sympathy  with  all  the  generous,  upbuilding, 
and  civilizing  influences  of  the  world. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  in  giving  freedom  to  the  black  man, 
who  was  a  slave,  gave  it  at  the  same  time  to  the  white  man, 
who  was  free.  He  not  merely  loosened  the  enslaved  forces 
of  nature  in  the  Southern  States,  but  he  emancipated  the 
whole  United  States  from  that  sectional  and  fratricidal  hatred 
which  led  the  white  man  in  the  South  to  look  upon  his 
brother  in  the  North  as  an  enemy  to  his  section  and  himself, 
and  led  the  white  man  in  the  North  to  look  upon  his  brother 
in  the  South  as  an  enemy  not  merely  to  the  nation,  but  also 
to  mankind.  I  have  had  some  experience  of  physical 
slavery,  and  I  have  known,  too,  what  it  is  to  hate  men  of 
another  race,  and  I  can  say  positively  that  there  is  no  form 
of  slavery  which  is  so  degrading  as  that  which  leads  one  man 
to  hate  another  because  of  his  race,  his  condition,  or  the 
color  of  his  skin. 

All  these  things  did  not  seem  so  clear  to  us  before  the 
War  as  they  do  now,  and  yet  there  have  always  been  people 
in  the  South  who  clearly  saw  the  evils  of  slavery  and  opposed 
them.  If  the  times  had  permitted  these  men  in  the  South 
to  look  calmly  upon  the  course  of  events,  they  would  have 
found  themselves  in  close  sympathy  with  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Now  that  the  excitement  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation  has 
died  away,  not  merely  these  men,  but  many  others  in  the 
South  are  beginning  to  see  that  during  the  whole  course  of 
the  Civil  War  the  South  had  no  more  sincere  friend  than  the 
Abolitionist  President  of  the  United  States,  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  He,  at  least,  never  forgot,  during  all  the  long  and 
bloody  struggle,  that  a  time  was  coming  when  the  men  who 
fought  for  the  South,  and  the  men  who  fought  for  the  Union 
must  settle  down  side  by  side  as  fellow-citizens  of  the  one 
indivisible  Republic. 

Some  one  who  was  present  when  Lincoln  heard  the  news 


496  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  Lee's  surrender  said  that  Jeff  Davis  ought  to  be  hung. 
The  President  in  his  reply  quoted  from  his  Inaugural  Ad 
dress,  "Let  us  judge  not  that  we  be  not  judged. "  Another 
said  that  the  sight  of  Libby  prison  forbade  mercy.  "Let 
us  judge  not,"  he  repeated,  "that  we  be  not  judged."  This 
was  said  at  the  close  of  the  War  when  the  whole  North  was 
aflame  with  the  news  of  victory.  A  year  before,  however, 
he  had  said  in  his  jocular  way,  "We  should  avoid  planting 
and  cultivating  too  many  thorns  in  the  bosom  of  society." 
All  through  the  War  he  saw,  what  Southern  statesmen  either 
shut  their  eyes  to  or  failed  to  see,  that  even  had  the  South 
won  in  the  War,  the  old  struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery 
would  have  gone  on  just  the  same,  under  other  banners  and 
other  battle  cries. 

"Physically  speaking,'*  he  said,  im  his  first  Inaugural  Address,  "we 
cannot  separate.  We  cannot  remove  our  respective  sections  from  each 
other,  nor  build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and- 
wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  each  other;  but  the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do 
this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face,  and  intercourse,  either 
amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible, 
then,  to  make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfac 
tory  after  separation  than  before?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier 
than  friends  can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced 
between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to 
war,  you  cannot  fight  always;  and  when,  after  much  loss  on  both  sides, 
and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  old  questions 
as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you." 

Whether  as  separate  nations,  or  as  separate  States  of  the 
same  nation,  the  struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery  was 
bound  to  continue.  Had  it  been  possible  to  put  an  end  to 
the  conflict  over  slavery  between  the  people  of  the  Northern 
and  people  of  the  Southern  States,  it  would  soon  have  broken 
out  again  within  the  Southern  States  themselves.  It  should 
never  be  forgotten  that  there  was  always  a  minority  in  the 
South  which  openly  or  in  silence  opposed  slavery.  After 
1830,  when  the  abolition  agitation  sprang  up  in  the  North 
and  it  came  to  be  considered  a  sort  of  treason  in  the  South 
to  lend  any  sort  of  favor  to  abolition  sentiments,  the  opinions 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          497 

against  slavery  were  no  longer  openly  expressed  in  the  South, 
but  the  opposition  to  slavery  did  not  cease.  Thousands  of 
people  who  submitted  to  the  censorship  that  was  at  that  time 
imposed  upon  the  open  expression  of  opinion,  silently  evaded 
the  laws,  and  upon  some  plea  or  other  emancipated  their 
slaves  or  sent  them  into  free  States,  where  their  freedom 
was  assured.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  of  the  constantly 
increasing  number  of  "free  negroes,"  both  in  the  Northern 
and  Southern  States,  and  this,  too,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  that 
were  made  to  colonize  this  class  of  citizens  abroad. 

No  one  knew  these  facts  better  than  Lincoln.  He  men 
tions  them  in  his  debates  with  Douglas.  In  this  connection 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Lincoln  was  a  Southerner 
by  birth.  If  he  did  not  share  the  prejudices  of  the  Southern 
people,  he  at  least  understood  and  sympathized  with  them. 
In  his  debate  with  Douglas  he  spoke  as  a  Southerner  rather 
than  a  Northern  Abolitionist. 

The  extreme  Abolitionists  of  the  Eastern  States  were  fre 
quently  violently  opposed  to  him.  Because  of  his  attitude 
on  the  fugitive  slave  law,  Wendell  Phillips  wrote  an  article 
entitled  "Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Slave  Hound  of  Illinois." 

The  Northwest  Territory,  of  which  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi 
nois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan  were  formed,  was  largely  set 
tled  by  Southerners  who  were  opposed  to  slavery.  These 
men  remained  Southerners  in  sentiment  and  tradition. 
They  did  not  cease  to  love  the  South  because  they  had  gone 
into  voluntary  exile  from  it.  In  a  certain  sense  it  is  true, 
therefore,  that  the  abolition  movement  of  the  Middle  West, 
which  Lincoln  represented,  was  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
South  turned  against  its  own  peculiar  institutions.  It  was 
not  the  opposition  of  strangers  nor  of  aliens  in  tradition  and 
sentiment  that  the  South  met  in  Lincoln  and  in  the  anti- 
slavery  people  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Illinois,  from 
whom  he  sprang.  It  was,  to  a  large  degree,  the  opposition 
of  Southerners  to  that  institution  of  the  South  that  not  only 
endangered  the  Union  of  the  States,  but  was  slowly  and 
insidiously  destroying  the  South. 

I  think  it  is  important  to  point  out  this  connection  of 


498  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Lincoln  with  the  South,  and  with  Southern  anti-slavery  senti 
ment,  because  there  are  men  in  the  South  to-day  who  are 
working,  silently  and  earnestly,  still  in  the  spirit  of  that 
elder  generation  of  anti-slavery  men,  in  order  to  complete 
the  work  that  Lincoln  began.  In  a  certain  way  I  may  say 
that  these  men  are  the  direct  inheritors  of  that  moral  senti 
ment  of  the  South,  which,  as  I  have  sought  to  suggest,  was 
represented  by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Southern  anti- 
slavery  men  of  the  Middle  West. 

As  the  years  have  passed,  all  sections  of  the  country  have 
learned  to  look  with  altered  views  upon  the  men  and  the 
issues  of  the  Civil  War.  Many  things  that  seemed  of  over 
shadowing  importance  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  now  look 
small  and  insignificant. 

Many  persons  who  were  in  the  foreground  then,  have  now 
moved  into  the  background.  Looking  at  these  persons  and 
events  from  a  distance,  as  usually  happens,  they  look  smaller 
and  less  significant.  There  is  only  one  figure  that  seems  to 
grow  constantly  bigger  and  more  impressive  as  the  years  go 
by.  It  is  with  a  really  great  man  as  it  is  with  a  lofty  tower 
standing  in  the  midst  of  a  crowded  city.  As  long  as  you  are 
near  it,  there  are  a  multitude  of  smaller  and  more  animated 
scenes  and  objects  that  distract  your  attention,  and  you  get 
only  the  most  distorted  idea  of  the  lofty  structure  near  you. 
But  as  you  move  farther  and  farther  away,  other  objects 
sink  into  insignificance,  and  it  looms  large  and  serene  above 
them.  For  the  first  time  you  see  the  mighty  edifice  in  its 
true  proportions. 

As  it  is  with  the  tower  in  the  city,  so  it  has  been  with 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Year  by  year  he-  looms  larger  above  the 
horizon  of  our  national  life — a  great,  serene,  beneficent 
figure — which  seems  to  stretch  its  arms  out  to  us,  saying  to 
us  of  that  War  as  he  did  at  Gettysburg : 

"It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished 
work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced. 
It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining 
before  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to 
that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion;  that 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          499 

we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain; 
that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth." 

Although  each  portion  of  the  American  people  still  look 
at  Abraham  Lincoln  from  a  different  angle  and  with  widely 
different  sentiments  and  feelings,  it  is  still  true,  I  believe, 
that  the  whole  country  has  learned  to  honor  and  revere  his 
memory.  To  the  South  he  appears,  as  I  have  said,  no  longer 
as  an  enemy,  but  a  wise  and  sincere  friend.  To  the  people 
who  have  inherited  the  traditions  of  the  North  he  is  the  pre 
server  of  the  Union,  the  second  founder  of  the  nation,  but  to 
the  negro  people  he  will  remain  for  all  time  the  liberator  of 
their  race.  In  the  eyes  of  the  excited  and  ecstatic  freedmen 
at  the  close  of  the  War  Lincoln  appeared  not  merely  as  a 
great  man,  but  as  a  personal  friend;  not  merely  an  emanci 
pator,  but  a  saviour.  I  confess  that  the  more  I  learn  of  Lin 
coln's  life,  the  more  I  am  disposed  to  look  at  him  much  as  my 
mother  and  those  early  freedmen  did,  not  merely  as  a  great 
man,  not  merely  as  a  statesman,  but  as  one  to  whom  I  can 
certainly  turn  for  help  and  inspiration — as  a  great  moral 
leader,  in  whose  patience,  tolerance,  and  broad  human  sym 
pathy  there  is  salvation  for  my  race,  and  for  all  those  who 
are  down,  but  struggling  to  rise. 


LINCOLN  AND  HIS  RELATIONS  WITH  CONGRESS  * 

HON.  SHELBY  M.   CULLOM 

CONGRESS,  in  the  days  of  Lincoln,  was  a  conservative, 
hard-working  body,  jealous  of  its  prerogatives,  just  as 
it  has  always  been ;  but  there  was  far  more  intense  excitement, 
bitter  feeling,  and  general  interest  in  Congress  than  there  is 
to-day.  President  Lincoln  was  freely  criticised;  he  had  bit 
ter  opponents  in  Congress,  as  he  had  outside ;  but  there  were 
others  who,  with  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  placed 
implicit  faith  in  him  and  felt  certain  that  he  would  carry 
the  country  through  the  awful  crises  and  eventually  save  the 
Union.  This  was  especially  true  among  those  who  knew  him 
best.  With  the  War  dragging  its  bloody  trail  the  entire 
length  of  his  administration,  the  national  credit  poor,  taxes 
mounting  upward,  problems  innumerable  only  to  be  solved 
by  Congress,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  it  was  exceedingly 
important  that  the  President  should  know  intimately  and 
judge  correctly  the  men  whose  support  he  must  seek  in  nearly 
every  project  he  was  called  upon  to  undertake.  Lincoln  did 
know  his  men.  There  was  never  a  President  of  the  United 
States  who  could  so  well  and  so  correctly  judge  men  as 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  he  was  seldom,  if  ever,  mistaken  in 
his  judgment. 

I  called  upon  him  at  the  White  House  a  few  months  before 
he  was  assassinated  and  a  short  time  after  my  election  as 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  had  been 
visiting  in  Washington,  and  spent  considerable  time  around 
Congress,  talking  with  members  and  senators,  and  it  seemed 
to  me  that  scarcely  any  of  the  strong  men  were  in  favor  of 
the  President.  I  was  greatly  impressed  and  concerned  on 
account  of  the  number  of  adverse  criticisms  I  had  heard. 
Before  leaving  Washington  I  called  upon  the  President,  and 

*  Copyright,  1909,  by  The  Chicago  Tribune. 

500 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION  501 

I  asked  him,  "Mr.  Lincoln,  do  you  allow  anybody  to  talk 
to  you  about  yourself?"  He  said,  "Certainly;  sit  down." 
I  told  him  that  I  wanted  to  talk  with  him  a  little  about 
what  I  had  seen  and  heard  around  Congress  since  coming 
here,  and  said  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  most  of  the  strong 
men  were  against  him.  He  replied,  with  a  smile,  "It  is  not 
quite  so  bad  as  that,"  and  with  that  he  took  up  a  copy  of  the 
"Congressional  Directory,"  with  the  remark  that  there  were 
many  congressmen  on  his  side,  and  turning  to  the  list  of 
senators  and  representatives  he  went  over  it  for  my  benefit. 
I  saw  that  nearly  every  name  was  marked,  and  as  he  went 
down  the  list  he  commented  on  each,  as,  for  instance :  '  *  This 
man  is  for  me";  "The  best  friend  I  have";  "He's  not  for 
me  now,  but  I  can  win  him  over,"  and  so  on.  I  found  that 
he  knew  almost  positively  how  every  man  stood,  and  the  great 
majority  of  them  were  for  him. 

It  was  an  interesting  catalogue  of  personal  characteristics, 
and  I  knew  then  that  Abraham  Lincoln's  habit  of  studying 
men  had  not  lapsed  when  he  went  to  Washington ;  and  I  saw, 
too,  that  he  had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  Congress  and  its 
personnel. 

I  well  recall  a  comment  I  heard  him  make  concerning  James 
G.  Elaine,  who  was  then  in  the  House.  Blaine  had  made  a 
speech  that  day  that  had  attracted  attention.  Lincoln  said 
of  him,  "Blaine  is  one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  our  coun 
try,"  an  assertion  which  succeeding  years  proved  to  be  true. 

I  well  recall  the  morning  when  the  message  came  from 
Washington  that  the  President  had  been  killed,  and  it  so 
happened  that  I  was  called  upon  to  announce  the  terrible 
news  to  the  great  crowd  assembled  in  the  old  State  House 
Square  in  Springfield. 

Five  years  previous  he  had  departed  from  Springfield  for 
Washington,  never  to  return.  I  clasped  hands  with  him  at 
parting,  and  there  passed  between  us  a  conversation  which 
strengthened  my  determination  to  go  to  Congress.  I  was  the 
newly  elected  Speaker  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  Lincoln  had  just  attained  his  title  "Mr.  President," 
which  I  took  delight  in  using. 


502  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"Good-by,  Mr.  President,"  said  I,  "I  will  be  down  in 
Washington  with  you  one  of  these  days."  "Come  on,  Mr. 
Speaker, ' '  he  replied,  i  i  I  hope  you  will  appear  there  soon. ' ' 

After  a  few  years  I  kept  my  promise,  and  immediately 
following  my  election  to  the  House  I  took  a  trip  to  Washing 
ton  to  look  over  the  field  of  my  coming  labors,  as  the  successor 
to  Congressman  John  T.  Stewart.  I  boldly  entered  the  room 
of  Secretary  Nicolay  at  the  White  House,  as  I  had  been  accus 
tomed  to  do  during  my  visits  to  Washington,  and  found,  much 
to  my  surprise,  that  I  had  broken  in  on  a  conference  between 
the  President  and  Secretary  "Seward.  President  Lincoln, 
seeing  me,  as  I  was  about  to  withdraw,  said,  "Come  in,  Cul- 
lom,"  and,  turning  to  his  Cabinet  officer,  "Seward,  you  re 
member  my  old  friend  Stewart,  who  was  here  last  term? 
Well,  he  was  beaten  for  reelection,  and  this  is  the  young  man 
who  beat  him.  ' ' 

There  were  many  great  and  interesting  men  in  both  the 
House  and  Senate  in  those  terrible  days  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  many  of  them  continued  leading  figures  during  the 
days  of  reconstruction  immediately  following.  With  many 
of  those  I  was  personally,  and  later  became  more  or  less  in 
timately,  acquainted.  There  was  Fessenden  of  Maine,  who 
succeeded  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  dignified  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  whom  many  people,  including  myself,  thought  in 
dispensable,  and  succeeded  him  in  the  office  so  well  that  the 
country  never  felt  the  change.  There  was  John  Sherman  in 
the  Senate,  even  then  one  of  the  leaders,  later  to  become  one 
of  our  greatest  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury ;  Thaddeus  Stevens 
in  the  House,  who  wielded  an  influence  second  to  none; 
Charles  Sumner,  one  of  the  great  men  of  his  day,  who  filled 
a  peculiarly  important  place  in  the  history  of  his  time,  then 
serving  as  Chairman  of  the  Foreign  Kelations  Committee. 
Senator  Trumbull  of  Illinois  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
upper  House  and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  great  lawyers 
of  the  nation.  Hendricks  of  Indiana,  Wilson  of  Massachu 
setts,  Howe  of  Wisconsin,  Henderson  of  Missouri,  Chandler 
of  Michigan,  were  then  in  their  prime.  John  A.  Logan  was, 
during  the  early  part  of  Lincoln's  administration,  a  member 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          503 

of  the  House;  resigning  in  1861,  he  became  the  foremost 
volunteer  officer  of  the  Civil  War. 

I  regarded  Thaddeus  Stevens  as  the  dominating  figure  in 
the  House  during  the  War  and  the  days  of  reconstruction, 
but  there  were  others  who  became  famous  in  American  politi 
cal  life  later.  There  was  Voorhees  of  Indiana,  William  B. 
Allison  of  Iowa,  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine,  Conkling  of  New 
York,  next  to  whom  I  occupied  a  seat  and  was  practically 
at  his  elbow  during  his  fierce  struggle  in  debate  with  Blaine 
some  years  later.  Owen  Lovejoy  represented  one  of  the 
Illinois  districts  previous  to  my  term  in  the  House.  I  was 
at  the  White  House  when  the  news  of  his  death  was  brought 
to  Lincoln,  and  I  recall  the  kindly  manner  in  which  he  spoke 
of  him.  Lovejoy  had  been  something  of  a  radical  in  the 
House,  and,  although  his  radicalism  had  in  a  way  aided  Lin 
coln,  there  were  times  when  it  grew  too  strong  for  the  good 
of  the  cause  in  hand.  Speaking  of  Lovejoy  on  this  occasion, 
Lincoln  said,  "He  was  one  of  the  best  men  in  Congress.  If 
he  became  too  radical  I  always  knew  that  I  could  send  for 
him  and  talk  it  over  and  he  would  go  back  to  the  floor  and 
do  about  as  I  wanted/' 

Shortly  before  Lincoln  was  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  a 
second  term,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  had 
quietly  undertaken  to  secure  the  nomination  for  himself.  I 
was  in  Washington  when  the  secret  letter  written  by  Senator 
Pomeroy,  urging  politicians  to  support  the  Chase  candidacy, 
came  out,  and  I  was  among  those  who  urged  that  Chase  be 
turned  out  of  the  Cabinet,  and  I  so  expressed  myself  to  the 
President.  He  replied:  " Let  him  alone ;  he  can  do  no  more 
harm  where  he  is  than  on  the  outside." 

That  was  his  way  of  looking  at  things.  He  was  of  too 
kindly  a  disposition,  too  great  a  man  to  punish  any  one  for 
being  against  him,  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  more  far- 
seeing  than  others.  He  knew  that  to  remove  Chase  would 
only  make  a  martyr  of  him ;  to  send  him  back  to  Ohio  would 
only  place  him  in  a  position  to  make  trouble  for  the  admin 
istration,  and  so  he  simply  let  him  alone,  which  was  by  far 
the  wisest  thing  to  do,  until  Mr.  Chase  resigned  once  too 


504  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

often,  and  then,  one  day,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  his  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  he  accepted  his  resignation. 

No  more  striking  illustration  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  magnanimity 
can  be  given  than  his  appointment  of  Mr.  Chase  to  be  Chief 
Justice  of  the  United  States  a  few  months  after  he  had 
accepted  his  resignation  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  It  so 
happened  that  I  was  in  Mr.  Nicolay's  office  when  Mr.  Chase 
came  to  the  White  House  to  thank  the  President  for  his  ap 
pointment  as  Chief  Justice.  The  door  was  ajar,  and  I  heard 
the  few  words  that  passed  between  them.  They  were  both 
extremely  dignified.  Mr.  Chase  thanked  him  in  a  few  words, 
and  the  President  simply  responded  that  he  hoped  that  Mr. 
Chase  would  do  his  duty,  and  so  the  interview  closed. 

The  Message  to  Congress  the  year  I  was  elected  was,  as  I 
recall  it,  a  marvel  of  succinctness  and  frankness  as  to  actual 
conditions  prevailing  in  the  land.  A  sunny  and  optimistic 
view  of  every  situation  was  taken,  however,  and  if  the  people 
wished  to  take  a  gloomy  view  of  even  disastrous  war  episodes, 
it  was  their  own  doing.  At  the  time  the  Message  was  written 
General  Sherman  was  attempting  his  famous  march  of  three 
hundred  miles  directly  through  the  insurgents'  region. 
There  were  plenty  of  forebodings  at  Washington  as  to  the 
eventual  outcome.  Lincoln  dismissed  the  subject  in  his  Mes 
sage  with  these  few  words,  after  stating  the  undertaking, 
"The  result  not  yet  being  known,  conjecture  in  regard  to  it 
is  not  here  indulged." 

In  other  words,  Lincoln  intimated  to  Congress  that  the 
country  would  cross  no  bridges  until  they  were  reached. 
However,  there  was  contained  in  that  Message  to  Congress, 
when  the  War  was  nearly  over,  a  note  of  determination  which 
left  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who  read  it  that  Lincoln 
still  believed  the  sentiments  he  had  expressed  in  his  great 
speech  wherein  he  said,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  can 
not  stand" — a  speech  which  I  heard  him  deliver,  by  the  way, 
and  I  must  confess  that  it  was  an  utterance  which  was  a  bul 
wark  to  me  in  those  trying  days  when  determination  only 
gave  way  to  doubt  and  fear. 

Those  were  dark  days,  but  how  soon  was  to  come  vindica- 


THE  JANESVILLE  COMMEMORATION          505 

tion  of  Lincoln's  diagnosis  that  the  issue  could  only  be  tried 
by  war  and  decided  by  victory.  In  the  early  days  of  Spring 
came  the  campaigns  around  Richmond,  and  Lee  was  driven 
to  the  final  stand,  where  he  accepted  bitter  and  unconditional 
surrender. 

To  Lincoln  was  given  but  a  glimpse  of  the  Promised  Land. 
He  lived  to  see  the  power  of  rebellion  broken,  but  was  sent 
to  his  eternal  reward  before  he  saw  the  authority  of  the  Union 
established  in  all  the  rebellious  States.  He  was  permitted 
to  go  up  into  the  mountain,  Nebo,  and  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  Promised  Land  of  a  restored  nation,  but  his  weary  feet 
were  not  permitted  to  cross  the  border  that  separated  it  from 
the  Wilderness  of  Civil  War.  With  his  gentle  but  firm 
manner,  he  had  led  Congress  to  do  his  bidding.  The  rising 
curtain  of  succeeding  years  has  only  served  to  show  the  soul 
of  wisdom  which  that  legislative  body  had  before  it  during 
those  dark  days  as  a  guiding  angel. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABEOAD 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD 

rilHB  truly  national  character  of  the  commemoration  of 
A  Lincoln  Js  Centenary  is  shown  not  alone  by  the  celebration 
of  the  day  in  every  city  and  hamlet,  church  and  school,  home 
and  library;  by  rich  and  poor,  educated  and  unlettered;  by 
the  most  distinguished  officials  of  the  Nation,  State,  or  city,  and 
by  the  humblest  private  citizens;  but  perhaps  more  than  all 
else  by  the  way  in  which  the  day  was  observed  by  absent  Amer 
icans  on  foreign  shores. 

The  Lincoln  Centenary  was  widely  celebrated  abroad  by  the 
American  colonies,  under  the  direction  of  the  American  con 
suls,  and  at  the  American  embassies.  These  celebrations  evi 
dence  the  abiding  interest  of  Americans  the  world  over  in 
the  life  of  ' '  the  first  American. ' '  Wherever  groups  of  Amer 
icans  were  found,  the  day  was  given  over  to  patriotic  exer 
cises,  in  commemoration  of  the  man  who  stands,  as  never  be 
fore,  for  all  that  America  means  to  the  hearts  of  her  sons  and 
daughters. 

The  universal  interest  which  this  great  American  awakened 
was  also  shown  by  the  recognition  of  the  Centenary  of  his 
birth  by  the  citizens  of  these  foreign  nations,  and  by  the 
tributes  to  him  by  the  sons  of  Japan  and  England,  Germany 
and  France,  Italy  and  Brazil. 

England,  the  country  perhaps  closest  to  us  of  all,  by  ties 
of  blood  and  common  ideals,  paid  homage  to  the  day  through 
the  person  of  its  King,  Edward  VII.,  addressing  to  Am 
bassador  Bryce  at  Washington  the  following  message  for 
transmission  to  our  Secretary  of  State  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States: 

"His  Majesty's  government  has  learned  with  interest  of  the  prepara 
tions  which  are  being  made  by  the  President  and  people  of  the  United 
States  to  commemorate,  on  February  12,  the  anniversary  of  the  birth 
of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"I  have  to  request  Your  Excellency  to  convey  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  the  cordial  sympathy  of  His  Majesty's  government,  with  the  spirit 

509 


510  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  inspires  the  United  States  on  this  celebration,  and  their  desire 
to  share  in  paying  a  tribute  of  honor  and  appreciation  to  the  strength 
and  simplicity  of  President  Lincoln's  character." 

The  Mayor  of  London,  England,  cabled  to  President  Roose 
velt  the  following  message : 

"The  Lincoln  city  flag  waves  over  the  Guild  Hall  to-day  in  sympa 
thetic  commemoration  of  the  event." 

At  Rochdale,  Lancaster,  England,  a  great  meeting  was 
held,  presided  over  by  the  Mayor,  while  Hon.  John  L.  Grif 
fith,  American  Consul  at  Liverpool,  delivered  the  Centenary 
address.  Other  speakers  recalled  that  Rochdale 's  great  towns 
man,  John  Bright,  had  loyally  supported  the  cause  of  Lin 
coln. 

A  cable  message  was  also  received  from  Manchester,  Eng 
land,  where  the  crowds,  gathered  to  take  part  in  the  com 
memoration  of  the  day,  over-taxed  the  capacity  of  the  hall 
provided,  and  necessitated  an  over-flow  meeting. 

Brazil  honored  Lincoln  and  Lincoln's  country  through  the 
participation  of  Ambassador  Nabuco  in  the  celebration  at 
Washington,  D.  C.,  while  in  its  own  towns  and  cities,  national 
flags  were  hoisted  on  all  the  federal,  state,  and  municipal  build 
ings;  the  Brazilian  warships  were  dressed,  and  at  ten  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  Lincoln  Centenary  day,  both  warships 
and  fortresses  fired  a  salute  of  twenty-one  guns. 

At  Paris,  France,  the  American  Club  observed  the  birth 
days  of  both  Washington  and  Lincoln,  with  joint  impressive 
ceremonies,  while  on  the  Centenary  day  itself  the  Lyceum 
Club  gave  a  banquet  at  which  were  present  Ambassador  and 
Mrs.  White  and  two  hundred  Americans  resident  in  Paris. 
Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  of  Princeton  University,  acted  as  the 
speaker  of  this  occasion,  as  well  as  of  the  commemoration  at 
the  American  Club. 

At  Berlin,  Germany,  there  were  two  commemorative  meet 
ings;  one  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  under  the  direction  of 
Professor  Felix  Adler,  and  the  other  an  essentially  American 
meeting  at  the  home  of  the  Ambassador. 

In  Rome,  Italy,  a  special  banquet  was  held,  attended  by 
one  hundred  and  ten  Americans,  including  Ambassador  Lloyd 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  511 

Griscom,  Signer  Nathan,  Mayor  of  Rome,  and  several  other 
Italian  dignitaries,  Ambassador  Griscom  making  the  princi 
pal  address  of  the  evening. 

In  the  Hawaiian  Islands  a  civic  and  military  parade  marked 
the  day,  with  exercises  at  the  Opera  House  in  the  evening; 
while  at  Manila,  and  all  through  the  Philippine  Islands,  pa 
triotic  exercises  were  held  in  schools  during  the  day,  with  a 
general  celebration  at  Manila,  presided  over  by  Governor- 
General  James  Smith,  at  which  the  principal  address  was  de 
livered  by  Mr.  Justice  Johnson  of  Manila. 

It  is  regretted  that  an  account  of  these  various  foreign  and 
territorial  celebrations,  fuller  than  we  have  here  been  able  to 
offer,  cannot  be  given,  with  the  full  text  of  the  speeches  de 
livered  that  day  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  Australia,  and  in 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  but  the  limits  of  this  volume  permit  the 
inclusion  of  only  a  very  few. 


MANCHESTER,  ENGLAND* 

THE  public  meeting  held  in  Manchester  to  celebrate  the 
Centenary,  led  to  a  remarkable  demonstration  of  interest 
in  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  and  work.  When  the  meeting 
was  planned,  the  offer  by  the  Lord  Mayor  of  the  use  of  his 
parlor  (a  room  with  accommodation  for  about  four  hundred 
people)  was  accepted  readily,  for  it  was  anticipated  that 
it  would  be  adequate  for  the  occasion.  Instead  of  four 
hundred  nearly  five  times  as  many  people  made  their  way 
to  the  Town  Hall  in  the  afternoon,  and  an  overflow  meeting 
in  the  large  hall  had  hastily  to  be  arranged.  Even  then 
there  were  no  spare  places,  for  while  the  surplus  audience 
quite  filled  the  large  hall,  the  smaller  room  was  packed  to 
the  doors  and  scores  of  people  had  to  stand.  To  prevent  dis 
appointment,  the  speakers  addressed  each  gathering  in  turn. 
Bishop  Welldon,  Dean  of  Manchester,  was  the  Chairman  in 
the  Lord  Mayor's  parlor,  and  the  Deputy  Mayor  (Mr.  Coun 
cillor  Harrop)  presided  in  the  large  hall. 

*  Extract  from  a  Manchester  newspaper. 


512  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Bishop  Welldon  recalled  the  dates  of  Lincoln's  birth  and 
death,  and  spoke  of  the  deep  impression  made  on  the  citizens 
of  Manchester  by  the  circumstances  of  the  President's  end. 

BISHOP  WELLDON  ?S  SPEECH* 

A  public  meeting  was  held  in  the  Old  Town  Hall  in 
King  Street,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  expressing  ''horror 
and  detestation  of  the  deplorable  crime  which  has  resulted  in 
the  violent  death  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  American 
Kepublic."  Forty-four  years  later  we  are  met  here  to  ex 
press  our  faith  that  Abraham  Lincoln  "though  dead  yet 
speaketh."  His  name  is  imperishably  associated  with  one 
of  those  supreme  moral  triumphs  which  ennoble  and  exalt 
the  life  of  nations,  which  are  not  achieved  without  bloodshed 
and  without  agony,  but  having  once  been  won  endure  forever- 
more.  The  slave  trade  has  become  so  entirely  a  matter  of 
history  that  few  who  are  present  to-day  can  imagine  what  it 
was.  But  if  anybody  cares  to  read  a  chapter  of  a  book  which 
has  quite  lately  appeared — Lehmann's  "Memories  of  Half  a 
Century,"  and  the  chapter  entitled  "Richmond  Slave 
Market" — he  will  realize  and  will  never  forget  the  unspeak 
able  shame  of  the  slave  trade. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  President  Lincoln  was  cut  off 
before  his  work  was  done.  To  my  mind  his  work  was  done 
on  that  day,  April  3,  1865,  when  the  flag  of  the  Union  was 
hoisted  at  Richmond  over  the  house  in  which  the  Confederate 
Assembly  had  been  wont  to  meet,  that  day  when,  as  he 
rode  silently  through  the  streets  to  his  house,  "the  colored 
people  in  multitudes  flocked  around  him,  they  rent  the  air 
with  their  shouts,  they  danced,  they  sang,  they  prayed  for 
blessings  on  his  head,  they  wept,  kneeling  at  his  feet." 

The  roll  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  of  America 
is  one  of  which  any  country  may  be  proud.  Among  those 
Presidents,  Lincoln,  if  he  is  not  the  greatest,  is  at  least  the 
most  familiarly  known.  The  magnitude  of  the  meetings 
gathered  to-day  in  his  honor  is  a  witness  to  the  undying 
lustre  of  his  name;  but  in  him  there  were  certain  elements 

*  Given  in  part  only. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  513 

which  appealed,  and  do  still  appeal,  to  the  popular  mind. 
He  rose,  as  other  Presidents  have  risen,  from  a  humble  state 
of  life.  There  was  in  him  a  simple,  homely  eloquence. 
Everybody  knows  his  dictum  about  swapping  horses.  But 
I  always  like  better  that  saying  of  his  which  he  was  wont 
to  put  in  the  form  of  a  dream,  when  he  saw  somebody  watch 
ing  him  who  said,  "That  is  a  common-looking  fellow,"  and 
he  replied,  "Yes,  God  prefers  common-looking  people;  that 
is  why  He  has  made  so  many  of  them." 

Lincoln  was  characterized  by  a  certain  background  of 
melancholy,  which  gave  a  charm  and  character  to  his  youth. 
It  is  to  his  eternal  credit  that  he  saw  the  truth  respecting 
the  Union  in  the  United  States,  that  he  saw  on  what  con 
ditions  that  Union  could  endure,  and  that  he  resolved,  what 
ever  the  cost  might  be,  to  preserve  it.  I  recall  to  your  mind 
those  words  of  his,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.  I  believe  this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be 
dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  ex 
pect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing  or  all  the  other."  Thank  God,  it  has  become  all  the 
home  of  free  men. 

No  words  can  exaggerate  the  weight  of  responsibility  which 
rested  upon  Lincoln  before  and  during  the  Civil  War.  It 
is  impossible  to  admire  too  strongly  his  integrity,  his  sym 
pathy,  his  love  of  peace,  which  never  failed  him  in  the  hours 
of  battle  and  of  victory.  I  do  not  think  anyone  here  will 
forget  that  in  all  that  he  did  he  was  actuated  by  a  strong, 
if  somewhat  undefined,  religious  feeling.  He  believed — and 
may  I  not  say  rightly  believed? — that  in  his  great  crusade 
for  liberty  the  Almighty  stood  at  his  right  hand.  He  re 
mains  as  one  of  the  heroic  figures  of  all  history,  for  he  laid 
down  his  life  that  the  slaves  might  be  free. 

Vice-Chancellor  Hopkinson,  of  Manchester  University,  re 
lated  some  of  the  incidents  which  occurred  in  Lancashire 
at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  and  recalled  memories  of  the 
workers  in  the  cotton  trade  who  supported  the  cause  of 
liberty. 


514  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

""Was  there  anything  in  the  history  of  the  last  century," 
he  asked,  "more  noble  than  the  way  in  which  the  working 
people  of  Lancashire  insisted  that  no  part  should  be  taken 
in  that  struggle,  although  they  were  hearing  from  time  to 
time  how  the  ships  of  the  North  were  blockading  the  only 
ports  from  which  supplies  of  cotton  could  come?" 

There  were  (he  pointed  out)  many  lessons  to  be  learned 
from  the  War.  If  a  nation  is  to  be  strong  it  must  be  in 
spired  by  a  strong  feeling  of  unity.  In  time  of  stress  there 
must  be  that  kind  of  courage  which,  in  spite  of  reverses  at 
first,  will  go  on  till  victory  is  won.  And,  lastly,  if  engaged 
in  any  struggle,  whether  in  politics  or  in  war,  men  gained 
enormously  in  power  if  a  great  cause  for  the  benefit  of 
humanity  was  before  them. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  personal  life  emphasized  one  or  two 
dangers  with  which  England  and  America  were  faced  to-day. 
There  was  a  want  of  simplicity  in  the  lives  of  the  better-to- 
do  classes  of  both  nations.  There  was  a  perpetual  desire 
to  talk,  a  perpetual  desire  for  publicity  and  advertisement. 
The  simplicity  of  Lincoln's  life,  and  his  silence,  even  more 
than  his  speeches,  were  eloquent  on  these  points. 

Lord  Stanley  of  Alderley  described  himself  as  one  of 
the  few  people  present  who  had  been  face  to  face  with  Lin 
coln.  "It  is  forty-five  years  since  I  met  him  in  Washington, 
yet  the  memory  of  his  face  is  still  fresh  to  me.  It  is  easy 
but  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  fine  points  in  Abraham 
Lincoln's  character,  but  looking  back  on  that  period  I  feel 
that  the  merits  and  qualities  of  the  President  were  in  some 
degree  the  merits  and  qualities  of  the  people  in  the  crisis 
through  which  they  went.  Lincoln  would  have  done  nothing 
if  he  had  not  had  the  people  of  the  United  States  behind 
him.  His  career  shows  what  a  free  people  can  do  when 
they  are  stirred  by  a  great  moral  cause."  Of  the  lessons  to 
be  drawn  from  Lincoln's  career,  Lord  Stanley  said  there 
was  one  which  might  be  emphasized.  Many,  nowadays,  were 
in  danger  of  forgetting  the  earnest  conviction  which  ani 
mated  their  forefathers,  that  human  rights  and  equal  justice 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  515 

are  the  paramount  duties  of  the  State.  Everybody  con 
demned  slavery,  but  was  there  not  to-day  a  tendency  to 
acquiesce  in  and  even  to  approve  servile  conditions? 

Mr.  Francis  Ashworth,  president  of  the  Manchester  Cham 
ber  of  Commerce;  Mr.  George  Milner,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Good 
rich,  and  Miss  Margaret  Ashton  spoke  of  the  noble  work 
done  by  Lincoln.  Miss  Ashton  said  that  just  as  the  women 
of  Lancashire  fought  on  the  side  of  liberty  during  the  Civil 
War,  so  they  were  fighting  for  their  own  liberty  to-day. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  speeches  it  was  decided  to  tele 
graph  to  America  the  following  message: 

"Manchester  citizens  honor  Lincoln,  and  send  heartiest  expressions 
of  good-will." 

Mr.  J.  Duxbury  then  recited  Lincoln's  great  Gettysburg 
Speech,  and  later  he  gave  Walt  Whitman's  "O  Captain, 
My  Captain." 

When  Major  Church  Howe,  the  United  States  Consul  in 
Manchester,  rose  to  acknowledge  the  speeches  made,  he  was 
received  with  long  and  hearty  applause.  Such  a  manifesta 
tion  of  friendship,  he  said,  made  him  feel  he  was  at  home 
among  his  own  people.  President  Roosevelt  had  likened 
Lincoln  to  Bunyan's  Greatheart  in  the  "Pilgrim's  Progress." 
That  day  in  every  city,  in  every  town,  and  in  every  hamlet 
in  America  all  business  had  ceased  in  order  that  one  great 
mass  meeting  of  the  people  might  honor  the  name  of  the 
great  emancipator.  That  day,  too,  President  Roosevelt,  the 
British  Ambassador,  and  the  Ambassadors  of  nearly  every 
country  in  the  world  were  assembled  down  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  and,  around  the  little  cabin  in  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  born,  were  assisting  at  the  laying  of  the  corner 
stone  of  the  memorial  hall,  built  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 

"I  am  not  here,"  Major  Church  Howe  continued,  "to 
deliver  a  eulogy  on  the  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  That  was  for 
you  to  do,  and  grandly  you  have  done  it.  I  am  here  to  thank 


516  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

you  for  this  great  interest,  for  the  cordial  manner  in  which 
you  bring  back  to  memory  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  great,  the 
commoner,  the  man  of  the  people,  the  man  who  believed  in 
the  government  'of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people.' 

"I  have  been  asked  to  relate  some  of  my  experiences  as 
a  soldier  of  the  Civil  War,  and  I  do  so  with  a  great  deal  of 
pride.  I  am  proud  that  I  was  a  soldier  under  the  great 
Commander-in-chief  Abraham  Lincoln.  You  must  remember 
that  our  army  was  made  up  of  the  boys  of  the  country. 
In  my  own  regiment,  the  first  regiment  that  responded  to 
the  call,  there  were  not  twenty  per  cent,  over  twenty-two 
years  old.  The  soldiers  of  the  army  were  the  youth  of  the 
country.  And  they  responded  as  the  English  boy  would 
respond  to-day  if  he  was  called  upon.  The  American  boy 
was  patriotic,  like  the  English  boy.  I  belonged,  as  a  boy 
of  seventeen  years,  to  the  Massachusetts  militia,  which  is 
similar  to  your  Territorial  Force.  The  War  was  commenced 
by  the  South,  not  by  the  North,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  Com 
mander-in-chief,  acted  on  the  defensive.  The  South,  which 
had  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  slavery  for  generations,  believing 
that  it  was  right,  that  the  slave  was  a  chattel  and  property 
that  could  be  bought  and  sold,  that  wife  could  be  separated 
from  husband  and  children  from  father  and  mother,  went  into 
the  War  in  the  belief  that  it  could  conquer.  When  Lincoln 
stood  in  the  way,  they  declared  their  intention  to  establish 
a  union  of  their  own.  It  was  then  that  Mr.  Lincoln  saw  he 
was  in  danger.  You  can  realize  now  how  little  he  thought 
the  War  would  amount  to,,  when  his  first  call  was  for  only 
seventy-five  thousand  troops.  Among  those  troops  was  the 
regiment  of  which  I  was  a  member — the  old  6th  Massa 
chusetts.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  received  notice 
to  go  to  the  armory.  We  took  off  our  clothing,  put  on  our 
uniforms,  and  at  nine  o'clock  were  on  our  way  to  Wash 
ington. 

"Upon  passing  through  Maryland,  a  slave-owning  State, 
on  the  nineteenth  of  April,  about  two  o  'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
an  assault  was  made  on  that  regiment  and  the  first  blood 
was  shed.  We  proceeded,  and  in  an  hour's  time  we  were 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  517 

at  Washington.  Lincoln  met  us.  I  recollect  that  as  we  lined 
up  he  came  down  the  line  and  shook  hands  with  every  boy, 
and  thanked  us  for  coming.  And  then  he  marched  with  us 
to  the  Senate  Chamber,  where  we  stood  guard  for  weeks. 
After  that  he  was  continually  coming  to  us,  talking  with 
every  one. 

"Oh,  he  was  a  commoner,  he  was  a  democrat,  he  was  a 
man  who  felt  that  you  were  as  good  as  he  was.  And  we  all 
loved  him.  He  was  a  gaunt,  tall  man,  better  than  six  foot, 
homely  and  ungainly.  But  when  you  came  to  listen  to  his 
talk,  you  realized  what  was  in  the  man." 

Major  Church  Howe  went  on  to  describe  Lincoln's  kind 
ness  of  heart,  how  he  reprieved  a  man  condemned  to  be  shot 
for  falling  asleep  when  on  sentry  duty,  and  how  he  won  his 
way  into  the  hearts  of  the  parents  as  into  the  hearts  of  the 
soldiers. 

In  closing,  the  speaker  emphasized  the  sincerity  of  the 
good-will  which  existed  between  the  British  and  American 
people.  " There  are  those, "  he  said,  "who  pretend  that  we 
are  not  as  cordial  as  we  should  be,  and  that  the  cordiality 
which  exists  is  commercial  only.  I  stand  here  to  say  that 
that  is  not  true.  The  two  countries  of  the  world  that  stand 
more  closely  to  each  other  than  any  others  are  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  We  are  one  people." 

The  meeting  passed  unanimously  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
Major  Church  Howe,  and  to  the  Lord  Mayor  for  the  use  of 
the  Town  Hall.  This  was  proposed  by  Mr.  William  Tatter- 
sail  and  seconded  by  the  Rev.  C.  Peach. 

When  the  meeting  was  over  Major  Church  Howe  expressed 
his  surprise  and  delight  at  the  remarkable  success  of  the 
celebration.  He  said  that  during  his  twelve  years'  experi 
ence  of  England  he  had  never  had  such  a  glorious  afternoon 
or  seen  such  a  clear  demonstration  of  good-will  towards  his 
country.  "It  has  been  wonderful,"  he  added,  "quite  spon 
taneous  and  altogether  hearty.  I  think  that  Manchester  must 
have  eclipsed  every  other  place  in  the  country  to-day. ' ' 

At  the  overflow  meeting  the  speakers  were  the  same  as 
those  who  had  addressed  the  chief  gathering,  with  the  addi 
tion  of  the  Rev.  J.  Hirst  Hollowell. 


518  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


BERLIN,  GERMANY  * 

THERE  were  two  commemorative  meetings  in  Berlin,  one 
at  the  University  of  Berlin  under  the  direction  of  Pro 
fessor  Felix  Adler,  and  the  other  an  essentially  American 
gathering  at  the  home  of  the  American  Ambassador. 

The  large  auditorium  of  the  University  in  which  Professor 
Felix  Adler,  the  "  Roosevelt "  Exchange-professor,  gave  his 
commemorative  address  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  was  filled,  to 
practically  the  last  standing-place  on  Friday,  with  an  audience 
containing  many  distinguished  people  from  the  German 
official  as  well  as  the  academic  world.  The  American  Am 
bassador  and  Mrs.  David  Jayne  Hill  were  present,  as  well 
as  perhaps  a  score  of  representative  Americans.  The  body 
of  the  hall  was  filled  with  Professor  Adler 's  regular  class  of 
German  students,  whose  numbers  have  increased  continually 
during  his  term  of  activity  here. 

The  Professor  showed  himself  a  master  of  German,  and 
spoke  not  only  clearly  and  fluently,  but  with  graphic  force  of 
expression.  His  sketch  of  Lincoln's  life  and  life-work,  which 
probed  deeply  into  the  psychology  of  the  great  American 
liberator,  was  listened  to  with  profound  interest  throughout, 
to  judge  by  the  atmosphere  of  deep  attention  which  pervaded 
the  hall. 

Professor  Adler  pointed  out  how  difficult  it  is  to  bring 
home  to  a  gathering  of  cultured  Europeans  all  that  Ameri 
cans  understand  by  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln — that 
"raw-boned  American/ '  "echt  amerikanischer  Typ,"  rising 
from  the  ranks,  "aus  der  tiefsten  Tiefe,"  from  "Lohnknecht" 
to  President,  and  finally  the  founder  of  the  American  Union. 
Germans  know  Lincoln  best  in  the  character  of  emancipator, 
as  the  liberator  of  the  negro,  but  they  see  the  humanitarian 
motives  by  which  he  was  guided,  rather  than  the  political 

*  Extract  from  The  Daily  Record  printed  in  Berlin. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  519 

ideals  which  caused  him  to  demand  abolition,  not  only  for 
the  sake  of  freedom  in  the  abstract,  but  for  the  sake  of 
political  unity.  Professor  Adler  put  the  humanitarian  side 
of  the  subject  somewhat  in  the  background  and  turned  a 
strong  search-light  upon  Lincoln's  lofty  political  aims. 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  address  was  the  really 
beautiful  portrait  which  the  Exchange-professor  drew  of 
Lincoln  as  ruler — truly  the  servant  of  the  people,  subservient 
to  their  will;  but  at  the  same  time  their  educator,  developing 
in  them  according  to  his  needs  the  intellect  and  the  reason 
ing  power,  so  that  while  he  served  he  ruled  and  led. 

Professor  Adler  finally  unveiled  the  bronze  bust  of  Lincoln 
which  he  is  presenting  to  the  Berlin  University  as  a  me 
mento  of  his  activity  here.  The  bust,  which  is  faithfully 
reproduced  from  the  striking  original  by  Leonard  Yolk  in 
the  National  Museum  at  Washington,  will  be  placed  in  the 
Roosevelt  room 

A  few  words  of  cordial  and  eulogistic  thanks  were  then 
spoken  by  the  Eector  on  behalf  of  the  University,  both  for 
Professor  Adler 's  address  and  for  his  liberal  gift  which  he 
was  assured  was  at  least  quite  unnecessary  in  order  to  keep 
his  memory  green  in  Berlin.  The  Rector  also  referred  to  the 
great  honor  and  gratification  which  the  University  authori 
ties  hope  next  year  to  experience  with  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  their 
midst  as  lecturer. 

Among  those  present  were  Baron  von  dem  Bussche,  of  the 
Foreign  Office;  leading  officials  of  the  " Kultusministerium ' ' ; 
Professor  Wilhelm  Forster,  astronomer,  and  head  of  the 
" Ethical  Culture"  society  in  Germany;  Professor  and  Mrs. 
Alois  Brandl,  and  a  host  of  other  representatives  of  the 
University  faculties;  Frau  Rosa  Poppe,  of  the  Kgl.  Schau- 
spielhaus;  Geh.  Rat.  Ludwig  Goldberger,  etc. 

Some  Americans  present  were:  Mrs.  Felix  Adler  and 
Mrs.  William  Morris  Davis,  Rev.  Dr.  Dickie,  Consul -General 
Thackara,  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Dreher,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Geo.  Watson, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  C.  L.  Babcock,  Dr.  Alice  Luce,  Mrs.  F.  L. 


520  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Keppler,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Honan,  Miss  Carrie  F.   Smith,  Miss 
Idelle  Morrison,  Mr.  Giintber  Thomas. 

An  interesting  personality  present  was  Philip  Loewenthal, 
of  New  York,  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War  who  went  out  with 
Lincoln's  corps  of  volunteers  in  1861. 

A  second,  more  general,  celebration  of  the  Lincoln  Cen 
tenary  took  place  in  the  afternoon  at  the  home  of  the  Amer 
ican  Ambassador  and  Mrs.  Hill.  A  general  invitation  had 
been  extended  to  all  Americans  who  desired  to  honor  the 
memory  of  Lincoln,  with  the  result  that  about  five  hundred 
Americans  filled  the  reception-rooms  at  Bismarck  Strasse  4. 
Patriotic  feeling  ran  high,  and  there  was  an  immense  amount 
of  enthusiasm  during  the  rendering  of  the  programme,  which 
included  the  singing  of  "My  Country  'T  is  of  Thee,"  the 
"Star  Spangled  Banner/'  and  "Dixie,"  and  the  rendering 
of  several  selections  of  a  thoroughly  American  order  by 
individual  musicians. 

The  speakers  of  the  occasion  were  Ambassador  David  Jayne 
Hill,  Consul-General  Thackara,  and  Professor  Felix  Adler. 

Professor  Davis,  who  has  up  till  now  been  known  on 
"Colony"  occasions  only  as  a  humorous  speaker,  came  out 
in  a  new  vein,  reading  a  set  of  verses  on  Lincoln  of  which 
he  himself  was  the  composer,  and  which  called  forth  sincere 
appreciation.  Professor  Felix  Adler 's  address  was  on  the 
same  lofty  scale  as  at  the  midday  celebration  at  the  Univer 
sity,  and  was  again  greatly  enjoyed.  It  remained  for  the 
Ambassador  to  deliver  the  address  which  was  the  feature 
of  the  afternoon.  Dr.  Hill,  who  spoke  last,  had  originally 
intended  merely  to  thank  the  previous  speakers  and  the 
musicians  of  the  afternoon,  adding  just  a  few  words  in 
honor  of  Lincoln.  But  the  general  enthusiasm  of  the  occa 
sion  and  the  exceptionally  large  American  gathering,  added, 
no  doubt,  to  the  unanimously  expressed  desire  that  he  should 
speak  at  length,  prevailed  upon  the  Ambassador  to  continue. 
The  result  was  a  masterpiece  of  simple  eloquence,  such  as 
Lincoln  himself  might  have  delivered,  and  which  cannot  be 
reproduced  in  cold  print  with  any  justice.  Dr.  Hill  re- 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  521 

ferred  to  the  original  erroneous  idea  of  Lincoln,  which  repre 
sented  him  as  a  despot  and  a  tyrant,  as  a  hard,  self-willed 
man,  and  showed  how  biographical  research  had  proved  the 
utter  fallacy  of  this  view.  He  compared  Lincoln  to  "a 
great  rock  in  a  surging  sea,"  as  he  stood  calm  and  deter 
mined  amidst  the  passions  of  North  and  South,  and  referred 
to  Lincoln's  political  philosophy.  Abraham  Lincoln  repre 
sented  the  political  rights  of  all  people,  from  the  lowest 
stratum  upwards ;  but  how,  asked  Dr.  Hill,  did  Lincoln  come 
to  represent  this  particular  form  of  political  philosophy? 
Simply  because  he  himself,  in  his  own  unique  life  and  per 
sonality,  represented  all  the  people.  He  himself  had  lived 
the  life  of  every  class  in  turn,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest ; 
"like  a  river  which  gathers  unto  itself  a  thousand  rivulets 
and  rivers  as  it  flows  on  full-breasted  to  the  sea,"  Lincoln 
gathered  unto  himself  all  the  wisdom,  the  wit,  the  pathos, 
the  humor,  and  the  everyday  philosophy  of  the  common 
people.  His  personality  was  the  incarnation  of  all  these  ele 
ments;  and  when  Lincoln's  soul  reached  Heaven  its  claim 
for  admittance  was  based  on  no  Order,  on  no  title  or  patent 
of  nobility,  but  on  the  simple  fact  that  the  man  was  the 
elected  representative  of  the  majesty  of  the  common  people. 
In  addition  to  the  large  gathering  of  Americans,  the  fol 
lowing  notabilities  were  observed  among  the  audience :  Herr 
von  Holleben,  former  Ambassador  at  Washington;  Excellenz 
von  Versen;  Frau  von  Hegermann-Lindencrone,  wife  of  the 
Danish  Minister,  who  had  just  returned  from  witnessing 
the  departure  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  England  at  the 
Lehrter  Bahnhof;  and  Professors  Paszkowski  and  von  Mar- 
tius,  of  Berlin  University. 


522  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

LINCOLN'S  HUNDREDTH  BIRTHDAY 
February  12,  1909. 

WILLIAM   MORRIS  DAVIS 
Harvard  Exchange-Professor  at  the  University  of  Berlin. 

We  name  a  day  and  thus  commemorate 
The  hero  of  our  nation's  bitter  strife; 
The  martyr  who  for  freedom  gave  his  life. 
We  feel  the  day  made  holy  by  his  fate. 

The  wheels  of  time  then  turn  their  ceaseless  round, 

And  slowly  wear  our  memory  away: 

The  holy  day  becomes  a  holiday; 

Its  motive  changes  with  its  change  of  sound. 

Let  not  our  purpose  thus  be  set  aside: 
An  hour,  'twixt  work  and  pleasure,  let  us  pause, 
And  consecrate  ourselves  to  serve  the  cause 
For  which  our  hero  strove,  our  martyr  died. 

He  lived  to  reunite  our  severed  land ; 

To  liberate  a  million  slaves  he  died, 

And  that  the  great  experiment  be  longer  tried 

Where  each  one  ruled,  in  ruling  has  a  hand. 

What  tho'  the  pessimists,  amid  their  fears. 
The  great  experiment  to  failure  doom. 
Let  us  recall  his  trust  in  time  of  gloom, 
And  steadfast  persevere  a  thousand  years. 

Tho'  sure  that  victories  new  will  yet  be  won, 
Like  those  our  fathers  gained  laboriously, 
'T  is  not  for  us  to  boast  vaingloriously 
As  if  our  battles  were  already  done. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  523 

Our  elders  might  have  sung  with  better  grace 
The  verse  that  vaunts  us  ever  free  and  brave, 
Had  not  our  land  so  long  oppressed  the  slave, 
Stolen  from  over  sea,  to  our  disgrace. 

Yet  in  our  pride,  how  little  right  have  we 
To  blame  our  elders  for  an  ancient  wrong 
That  gave  the  weak  in  bondage  to  the  strong. 
Are  we  ourselves  so  wholly  brave  and  free? 

Yes,  with  primeval  courage,  brave  and  strong, 
When  banded  'gainst  a  foe;  yes,  free  from  kings — 
But  not  so  brave  in  smaller  things 
That  we  should  celebrate  ourselves  in  song. 

Not  that  it  counts  for  naught  that  we  have  grown 

To  be  the  leaders  of  a  continent, 

And  not  that  we  could  be  for  long  content 

'Mid  any  other  folk  except  our  own. 

But  that  we  must  not  lightly  over-rate 
Our  qualities:  if  on  our  faults  I  lay 
A  certain  emphasis,  't  is  not  to-day 
Ourselves,  but  Lincoln  whom  we  celebrate. 

For  he  was  brave,  a  true  American — 
Unselfish,  kindly,  patient,  firm,  discerning, 
His  honest,  homely  wisdom  outweighed  learning; 
He  stood  for  service  to  his  fellow  man. 

How  think  of  him  and  not  condemn  the  use 
Of  public  office  turned  to  private  ends, 
Of  petty  fraud,  for  which  each  one  pretends 
To  find  in  others'  frauds  his  own  excuse? 


524  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

How  can  we  think  of  him  and  not  repent 
The  shaded  line  we  draw  'twixt  wrong  and  right; 
Of  him,  and  not  resolve,  with  all  our  might, 
To  carry  on  the  great  experiment  ? 

If  most  of  us  have  no  great  tasks  to  do, 
Let  us,  like  him,  be  faithful  in  things  small. 
Our  nation's  drama  makes  us  actors  all; 
If  only  splitting  rails,  we  '11  split  them  true. 

If  troubles  thicken,  let  us  still  deserve 

To  solve  them  all  as  Lincoln  would  to-day; 

If  dangers  threaten,  let  us  not  betray 

The  cause  that  Lincoln,  living  yet,  would  serve. 

Here  in  a  distant  foreign  land  we  pause, 
'Twixt  work  and  pleasure,  to  commemorate 
His  noble  life.     How  better  than  to  consecrate 
Ourselves  to  play  our  part  in  Lincoln's  cause? 


THE  MAN  FOR  THE  HOUR 

ALEXANDER  MONTGOMERY   THACKARA 

literature  inspired  by  Lincoln's  record  is  vast  in 
A  quantity  and  rich  in  quality,  and  to  do  justice  to  talent, 
requires  talent.  It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of  his  distinction 
as  a  lawyer,  his  achievements  as  a  statesman  or  of  his  historic 
guidance  of  a  nation  in  the  most  trying  time  of  its  existence. 

From  a  stump  speaker  and  corner  grocery  debater,  he 
lived  to  take  his  place  in  the  front  rank  of  immortal  orators, 
whose  lucidity  of  speech  surprised  and  enthralled  his  hearers. 
He  rarely  failed  to  seize  an  opportunity  to  illustrate  a  situa 
tion  by  substituting  a  story  for  an  argument,  and  left  his 
listeners  to  make  their  own  deductions. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  his  humor,  his  melancholy,  his 
strange  mingling  of  energy  and  indolence,  his  unconventional 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  525 

character,  his  frugality,  his  tenderness  and  his  courage. 
Could  Lincoln  have  foreseen  the  place  he  now  holds  in  the 
hearts  of  the  nation,  which  greatly  owes  its  preservation  to 
his  wise  guidance,  his  great  heart  would  have  been  spared 
many  a  pang  which  his  political  enemies  inflicted  upon  him. 
Could  he  have  been  granted  a  vision  of  those  countrymen 
he  loved  better  than  himself,  in  America  and  throughout  the 
world,  meeting  together  in  his  memory — proud  to  have  such 
a  ruler,  a  father  who  saved  his  children  from  a  family 
breach — his  fine  nature,  in  which  the  keynotes  were  malice 
towards  none  and  charity  for  all,  would  have  been  saved 
many  a  hurt.  For  Lincoln,  of  whom  we  think  as  beyond 
fitting  praise,  as  he  is  beyond  reproach,  had  sad  moments  of 
self-doubting  and  self-depreciation.  Many  incidents  of  his 
life  show  this  side  of  his  character,  but  it  was  the  other  side 
that  predominated  when  occasion  demanded  and  made  him 
the  man  for  the  hour  in  our  greatest  need. 

An  anecdote  which  was  told  in  my  presence  by  Dr.  Nich 
olas  Murray  Butler,  President  of  Columbia  College,  and 
which  doubtless  many  of  you  have  heard,  will  illustrate  his 
firmness  when  sure  of  his  own  position.  Lincoln  had  for 
a  long  time  advocated  the  abolition  of  slavery.  After  care 
ful  study  and  deep  thought,  he  prepared  a  rough  draft  of 
his  Emancipation  Proclamation  and  submitted  it  to  his  Cab 
inet  Officers  for  their  opinion  as  to  its  feasibility,  its  pro 
priety,  and  its  wording.  One  and  all  expressed  their 
disapprobation  of  the  scheme,  stating  that  the  time  was  not 
opportune,  and  that  it  was  extremely  bad  politics,  etc.  Lin 
coln  was  impressed  by  the  unanimity  of  the  adverse  senti 
ment  of  his  advisers,  but  after  giving  the  subject  deep  and 
prayerful  reconsideration,  some  two  weeks  later  he  again 
presented  the  Proclamation  to  his  Cabinet  with  some  slight 
changes  in  the  context,  and  stated  that  he  desired  to  have 
their  final  vote  to  settle  the  matter.  When  the  question  was 
put,  Lincoln  voted  "Aye."  The  rest  of  the  Cabinet  to  a  man 
cast  their  votes  in  the  negative.  Lincoln  stood  up  and  with 
a  firm  and  impressive  voice  said:  "Gentlemen,  the  ayes 
have  it,"  and  the  famous  Proclamation  was  issued. 


526  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

To  the  real  orators  who  are  going  to  follow  me,  I  leave  the 
handling  of  this  inspiring  subject — Lincoln — which  is  kin 
dling  a  flame  of  patriotic  enthusiasm  that  spans  the  world, 
for  I  venture  to  say  that  not  only  in  the  United  States,  but 
in  Europe  and  in  the  Far-East,  there  will  be  found  groups 
of  Americans  gathered  to-day  for  the  same  purpose  that  has 
brought  us  together.  All  know  the  pall  of  sorrow  which 
spread  over  our  country  when  he  met  his  tragic  death. 
Could  he  be  with  us  and  see  the  splendid  progress  our  country 
has  made  since  the  fatal  day  in  April,  1865,  he  would  surely 
realize  that  his  martyrdom  was  not  in  vain. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  527 


PARIS,  FRANCE 

Doctor  Henry  van  Dyke  furnishes  this  account  of  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Club  at  Paris:  "The  banquet  of 
the  American  Club  of  Paris,  was  held  in  the  Hotel  d'  Or 
leans  on  February  22,  1909.  It  was  a  joint  celebration  of 
the  memory  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.  Colonel  Theodore 
Ayrault  Dodge,  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  presided. 
Among  those  present  were:  Hon.  Henry  White,  Ambassa 
dor  to  France;  Hon.  Stewart  L.  Woodford,  ex- Ambassador 
to  Spain;  Colonel  Frank  L.  Mason,  Consul-general;  and  rep 
resentatives  of  the  French  Republic,  and  the  city  of  Paris. 
The  meeting  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the 
club."  The  principal  address  follows: 

FROM  WASHINGTON  TO  LINCOLN 

DR.  HENRY  VAN  DYKE 

FROM  Washington  to  Lincoln !  From  the  stately  pillared 
mansion  at  Mt.  Vernon  to  the  Illinois  log  cabin,  from 
silver  shoe-buckles  to  square-toed  boots,  from  the  Virginia 
landed  proprietor  to  the  rough  and  ready  Western  lawyer — 
what  a  change !  There  are  some  who  regret  it,  and  lament  the 
good  old  times  when  all  the  Fathers  of  the  Revolution  (per 
haps)  wore  silk  stockings  and  knee  breeches.  This  regret  re 
minds  me  of  the  two  Irishmen  who  went  to  hear  Mr.  Bryan 
on  his  return  from  Europe:  "Ah!  "  said  one,  "Bill  Bryan 
is  not  the  man  he  used  to  be."  "No,"  said  the  other,  "and 
he  never  was  either."  There  are  some  who  rejoice  in  the 
supposed  change,  and  hail  in  Lincoln  the  advent  of  a  new 
democracy.  This  rejoicing  and  self -congratulation  remind  me 
of  the  old  New  England  farmer,  who  returned  a  volume  of 
Plato  which  Emerson  had  lent  to  him,  with  the  remark,  "I 
kinder  like  that  old  Greek  feller ;  he 'a  got  some  o '  my  idees. '  ' 


528  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  both  the  regret  and  the  rejoicing  are 
wasted. 

The  change  from  Washington  to  Lincoln  is  one  of  form, 
not  of  substance ;  one  of  dress,  and  not  of  spirit.  It  is,  in 
fact,  only  an  outward  modification,  which  does  not  touch  at 
all  the  continuity  of  moral  and  political  ideas,  or  the  un 
broken  strain  of  patriotism  which  made  both  of  those  men 
representative  of  America. 

Washington  was  not  the  last  American,  nor  was  Lincoln 
"the  first  American,"  though  Lowell  said  so.  Franklin  was 
an  American,  and  Alexander  Hamilton  was  an  American, 
Philip  Schuyler  was  an  American,  John  Jay  was  an  American. 
Everyone  of  those  men  who  had  spirit  enough  to  take  his 
heritage  from  English,  or  French,  or  Scotch,  or  Dutch  stock, 
and  lay  it  at  the  shrine  of  freedom  and  equal  rights,  was  an 
American. 

Washington  and  Lincoln  were  rooted  in  the  same  soil  of 
fundamental  justice.  They  expanded  their  manhood  in  the 
same  air  of  liberty.  They  were  like  a  stately  silver  pine  and 
a  rugged  black  oak,  growing  together  on  the  same  hillside, 
and  spreading  abroad  their  strength  in  the  free  winds  of 
heaven. 

I  am  struck,  not  by  the  difference  in  their  dress,  but  by 
the  resemblance  in  their  hearts.  They  lived  by  and  for  the 
same  aims.  They  hitched  their  wagon  to  the  same  star.  It 
was  Washington  who  saw  most  clearly  the  vital  necessity  of 
Union,  and  who  did  most  to  make  it  firm  and  durable.  It 
was  Lincoln  who  met  the  dangers  which  Washington  had 
predicted  would  assail  that  Union,  and  who  saved  it  from 
them,  and  made  it  indissoluble.  It  was  Washington  who 
first  gave  to  America  the  lesson  of  toleration  and  forgiveness, 
by  his  treatment  of  the  men  who  calumniated  and  con 
spired  against  him  during  the  Revolution — forgiving  all,  as 
he  said,  for  the  sake  of  the  common  cause.  It  was  Lincoln 
who  wrote  the  words  of  peace  and  reconciliation  upon  the 
firmament,  when  the  lurid  clouds  of  Civil  War  had  rolled 
by,  so  that  Jefferson  Davis  said  of  him,  ' '  Since  the  fall  of  the 
Confederacy,  the  South  has  suffered  no  loss  so  great  as  the 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  529 

death  of  Abraham  Lincoln."  It  was  Washington  who  saw 
the  inconsistency,  the  shame,  and  the  peril  of  slavery.  It  was 
Lincoln  who  ended  it. 

Washington  was  a  soldier  who  fought  for  the  su 
premacy  of  just  and  peaceful  laws.  Lincoln  was  a  lawyer 
who  invoked  the  sword  to  defend  a  supreme  equity.  Both 
men  were  too  great  for  personal  jealousy,  too  noble  for  per 
sonal  revenge,  too  simple  for  personal  affectation,  whether 
of  roughness  or  of  smoothness,  too  sincere  for  personal  con 
cealment.  They  had  no  secrets  from  their  country.  They 
served  her  with  a  whole,  clean,  and  glad  heart;  and  they 
asked  no  greater  reward  than  her  service. 

Washington  used  long  words.  Lincoln  used  short  words. 
But  they  both  used  words  for  the  same  purpose;  they  both 
had  that  kind  of  eloquence  which  is  simply  the  result  of 
manly  virtue,  sober  thought,  and  straight  utterance.  Through 
the  speeches  of  both  there  ran  three  main  ideas: — first,  a 
recognition  of  the  nation's  dependence  upon  Almighty  God; 
second,  a  strong  emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  union  at  the 
sacrifice  of  factional  differences  and  interests ;  third,  a  steady 
insistence  on  moral  ideas  as  the  foundation  of  national  great 
ness. 

They  were  not  sceptics,  they  were  believers;  they  were 
not  clever  cynics,  they  were  sober  enthusiasts.  They  were 
not  plaster  of  Paris  saints.  Washington  had,  beneath  his 
quiet  exterior,  a  power  of  indignation  against  evil  which 
made  him  use,  at  times,  language  which  was  not  fit  to  print. 
Lincoln  had  a  sense  of  humor  which  made  him,  occasionally, 
tell  stories  whose  latitude  exceeded  their  longitude.  But  at 
heart  they  were  both  profoundly  serious  men.  * '  When  I  die, ' ' 
said  Abraham  Lincoln,  "I  want  it  said  of  me  by  those  who 
know  me  best  that  I  always  plucked  a  thistle  and  planted  a 
flower  where  I  thought  a  flower  would  grow.'*  "If  I  know 
my  own  heart,"  wrote  Washington  from  Valley  Forge,  "I 
could  offer  myself  as  a  living  sacrifice  to  the  butchering  enemy, 
provided  that  would  contribute  to  the  people's  ease."  I 
leave  it  to  you  if  this  is  not  the  same  keynote  struck  by  these 
two  men. 


530  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

I  am  tired  of  the  talk  which  makes  of  Lincoln  a  rude,  un 
gainly,  demagogic  jester.  I  am  tired  of  the  superficial  criti 
cism  which  makes  of  Washington  a  proud,  self-satisfied  Brit 
ish  Squire.  (George  III.  did  not  think  so.)  One  of  these 
men  was  great  enough  to  refuse  a  crown,  the  other  great 
enough  to  accept  a  cross,  for  his  country 's  sake.  Let  us  learn 
to  recognize  in  both  of  these  men,  embodiments  of  the  spirit 
of  America,  of  the  type  of  manhood  which  has  made  America ; 
and  let  us,  if  we  love  our  country,  get  away  from  the  notion 
that  she  is  a  happy  accident!  If  we  do  not  get  away  from 
that  notion  she  will  be  an  unhappy  disaster. 

What  are  the  ideals  which  belong  to  true  Americanism? 
Here  are  some  of  them : 

To  believe  that  the  inalienable  rights  of  man  to  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  are  given  by  God. 

To  believe  that  any  form  of  power  which  tramples  on  those 
rights  is  unjust. 

To  believe  that  freedom  must  be  safeguarded  by  law,  and 
that  the  end  of  freedom  is  fair  play  for  everyone. 

To  believe  that  the  selfish  interests  of  persons  and  factions 
must  be  subordinated  to  the  welfare  of  the  Commonwealth. 

To  believe,  not  in  a  forced  equality  of  conditions  and  es 
tates,  but  in  a  true  equalization  of  burdens  and  opportunities, 
so  that  every  man  shall  have  a  fair  chance. 

To  believe  that  no  class  is  sacred  enough  to  rule  the  Repub 
lic,  and  no  mass  great  enough  to  ruin  it. 

To  believe,  not  that  all  men  are  good — for  they  are  not — 
but  that  the  way  to  make  them  better  is  to  trust  the  whole 
people. 

To  believe  that  the  great  Democracy  should  offer  to  all  na 
tions  an  example  of  virtue,  sobriety,  and  square  dealing. 

To  believe  that  Church  and  State  are  absolutely  independ 
ent,  and  that  both  need  real  religion. 

These  are  vital  elements  in  the  faith  of  Americans;  and 
to-night,  as  guests  and  grateful  friends  of  the  French  Repub 
lic,  we  profess  our  creed,  we  celebrate  our  heroic  chiefs — 
Washington,  who  lived  to  create  the  Union ;  Lincoln,  who  died 
to  save  it.  We  celebrate  a  republicanism  which  belongs 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  531 

neither  to  the  classes  nor  to  the  masses,  a  republicanism 
which  has  room  for  the  unselfish  aristocrat  as  well  as  for  the 
noble  democrat,  a  republicanism  which  speaks  of  self-reliance, 
fair  play,  common  order,  self-development,  and  a  country 
which  belongs  to  all — from  Washington  to  Lincoln,  to  Cleve 
land,  to  Roosevelt,  to  Taft. 


532  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


ROME,  ITALY 
THE  AMERICAN  UNION  AND  ITALY  * 

HON.  LLOYD  C.  GRISCOM 

AS  we  are  all  enjoying,  for  the  moment,  the  hospitality 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  should 
not  let  this  occasion  pass  without  some  expression  of  our 
heartfelt  sympathy  with  a  people  so  recently  stricken  with 
the  most  disastrous  calamity  which  has  ever  been  recorded  in 
the  history  of  nations.  I  am  sure  I  justly  interpret  the 
unanimous  sentiment  of  this  assembly  when  I  express  to  the 
government,  and  to  the  people  of  Italy,  our  condolence  in  this 
hour  of  suffering  and  misery,  and  our  admiration  for  the  cour 
ageous  manner  in  which  the  whole  nation  has  nobly  risen  to 
meet  the  blow. 

Italy  may  well  be  proud  of  her  brave  soldiers  and  sailors, 
who  are  still  carrying  on  the  humane  work  of  relief;  but 
above  all  she  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  having  at  this  mo 
ment  two  sovereigns,  who,  at  the  first  word  of  the  disaster, 
proceeded  to  the  scene  of  horror,  and  there,  by  their  untir 
ing  efforts,  brought  succor  and  comfort  to  the  suffering  peo 
ple,  and  gave  an  inspiring  and  illuminating  example  to  the 
Italian  nation,  and,  indeed,  to  the  whole  world.  It  is  not  in 
Italy  alone  that  the  humane  deeds  of  King  Victor  Emmanuel 
III.  and  Queen  Helena  are  justly  admired  and  will  be  perma 
nently  remembered. 

It  requires  a  leap  of  memory  .over  well  nigh  fifty  years  to 
recall  that  once,  when  we  in  America  had  our  period  of  trial 
and  suffering,  we  received  from  Italy  a  sympathy  and  en 
couragement  which  was  sorely  needed.  It  takes  us  to  the  time 

*  An  address  delivered,  February  12,  at  a  Lincoln  Banquet  at  Rome, 
Italy. 


THE  COMMEMORATION  ABROAD  533 

when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  President,  and  when,  for  four 
bitter  years  civil  war  devastated  the  fairest  section  of  the 
American  continent.  In  Europe  generally,  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  received  the  greatest  sympathy,  based  largely  on  com 
mercial  interests,  but  in  Italy  the  cause  of  human  liberty  and 
of  national  unity  for  which  Lincoln  stood  the  champion,  was 
the  cause  which  appealed  to  the  people  and  received  its  un 
wavering  support. 

The  fact  is  written  large  in  the  archives  of  the  Embassy 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  occupy.  One  of  my  most  illustrious 
predecessors,  Mr.  George  P.  Marsh,  while  Minister  at  Turin, 
wrote  to  our  Government  on  June  27,  1861,  four  days  after 
presenting  his  letters  of  credence,  that  the  tenor  of  Baron 
Eicasoli's  remarks  left  no  room  for  doubt  that  his  personal 
sympathies,  as  well  as  those  of  his  Government,  were  entirely 
on  the  side  of  President  Lincoln  and  the  constituted  author 
ities  of  the  Union.  A  year  later,  he  wrote  that  there  was  no 
country  in  Europe  where  the  cause  of  the  American  Union  met 
with  so  warm  and  hearty  a  sympathy  as  in  Italy,  and  that  the 
Italian  population  was  unanimous  in  its  wishes  for  the  triumph 
of  the  Federal  cause. 

Again,  a  year  later,  in  1863,  he  wrote  that  the  conduct  of  the 
Italian  Government  was  the  more  entitled  to  a  generous  ap 
preciation  by  the  United  States,  because  the  cutting  off  of 
the  supply  of  cotton  by  Northern  naval  operations  was  a  se 
vere  injury  to  Italian  industry.  In  the  course  of  the  four 
years  of  the  Civil  War,  Marsh  never  had  occasion  to  send  to 
our  Government  a  word  of  complaint  of  the  attitude  or  con 
duct  of  Italy.  As  early  as  June,  1861,  Baron  Kicasoli  gave 
special  police  orders  to  prevent  the  sale  of  vessels  or  muni 
tions  of  war  to  the  South,  and  the  hospitality  of  Italian  ports 
was  denied  to  Southern  privateers.  It  seems  appropriate  to 
recall  that,  when  other  foreign  nations  were  seriously  con 
tributing  to  the  duration  and  bitterness  of  Lincoln's  task, 
Italy  never  deviated  from  the  path  of  friendship. 

At  the  risk  of  trespassing  on  your  patience,  I  would  like, 
at  this  moment,  also  to  recall  a  curious  and  interesting  his 
torical  incident  which  betrays  the  then  existing  under-current 


534,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  feeling  between  Italy  and  the  United  States.  An  Amer 
ican  historian,  Mr.  Nelson  Gay — who  should  be  here  tonight, 
but  who  is  engaged  in  a  much  nobler  occupation  of  carrying 
relief  to  the  mountain  towns  of  Calabria — unearthed  from  the 
archives  of  our  Embassy  in  Rome  the  long-concealed  history 
of  tbe  offer,  by  President  Lincoln  to  General  Garibaldi,  of  the 
command  of  one  of  the  Northern  armies.  Garibaldi  refused 
the  offer,  largely  because  the  American  Government  had  not 
yet  decided  upon  the  liberation  of  the  slaves,  which  was  the 
only  cause  which  would  have  induced  the  Italian  patriot  to  en 
gage  in  the  American  struggle.  The  incident  had  no  conse 
quences,  but  it  serves  to  show  in  what  esteem  Lincoln  held 
Garibaldi,  and  what  a  powerful  sway  the  name  and  reputa 
tion  of  the  great  Italian  patriot  had  in  America  at  that  time. 

It  is  in  such  moments  of  stress  and  tribulation  that  real 
ties  and  real  friendships  between  nations  are  made.  Hap 
pily,  the  diplomatic  intercourse  between  Italy  and  the  United 
States  is  one  long  record  of  amity  and  good  will.  We  are 
ever  ready  to  recognize  our  indebtedness  for  the  literary  and 
artistic  inspiration  received  from  the  land  which  gave  birth 
to  Dante,  to  Petrarch,  to  Raphael,  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and 
to  Michael  Angelo.  If  further  link  were  needed,  we  have  only 
to  recall  that  it  is  from  an  Italian  that  we  have  taken  the  name 
which  is  so  dear  to  us — "America." 

Your  Chairman  has  given  to  me  a  task  which  is  ever  most 
welcome  to  an  American  representative.  The  toast  of  "The 
President  of  the  United  States"  is  one  which  thrills  every 
thread  of  our  patriotic  fibre,  and  we  may  be  pardoned  if  we 
seize  upon  the  moment,  even  here  in  this  most  hospitable  for- 
eign  land,  to  indulge  in  an  expression  of  the  respect  in  which 
we  hold  the  highest  officer  of  our  Government,  and  of  the  con 
fidence  we  have  in  him  and  our  institution. 

It  is  by  such  gatherings  as  this  that  we  keep  fresh  within 
us  the  memory  of  our  greatest  heroes,  and  contribute  our  share 
to  maintain  the  standards  and  ideals  of  our  forefathers. 


THE  MAN  LINCOLN 

WILBUR   D.    NESBIT 

NOT  as  the  great  who  grow  more  great 
Until  they  are  from  us  apart — 
He  walks  with  us  in  man's  estate; 
We  know  he  was  a  brother  heart. 
The  marching  years  may  render  dim 

The  humanness  of  other  men, 
To-day  we  are  akin  to  him 
As  they  who  knew  him  best  were  then. 

Wars  have  been  won  by  mail-clad  hands, 

Realms  have  been  ruled  by  sword-hedged  kings, 
But  he  above  these  others  stands 

As  one  who  loved  the  common  things; 
The  common  faith  of  man  was  his, 

The  common  faith  in  man  he  had— 
For  this  to-day  his  brave  face  is 

A  face  half  joyous  and  half  sad. 

A  man  of  earth !     Of  earthy  stuff, 

As  honest  as  the  fruitful  soil, 
Gnarled  as  the  friendly  trees,  and  rough 

As  hillsides  that  had  known  his  toil; 
Of  earthy  stuff— let  it  be  told, 

For  earth-born  men  rise  and  reveal 
A  courage  fair  as  beaten  gold 

And  the  enduring  strength  of  steel. 
535 


536  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

So  now  he  dominates  our  thought, 

This  humble  great  man  holds  us  thus 
Because  of  all  he  dreamed  and  wrought, 

Because  he  is  akin  to  us. 
He  held  his  patient  trust  in  truth 

While  God  was  working  out  His  plan, 
And  they  that  were  his  foes,  forsooth, 

Came  to  pay  tribute  to  the  Man. 

Not  as  the  great  who  grow  more  great 

Until  they  have  a  mystic  fame — 
No  stroke  of  pastime  nor  of  fate 

Gave  Lincoln  his  undying  name. 
A  common  man,  earth-bred,  earth-born, 

One  of  the  breed  who  work  and  wait — 
His  was  a  soul  above  all  scorn, 

His  was  a  heart  above  all  hate. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

THE  editor  of  this  volume  wishes  briefly  to  mention  again 
the  obligation  that  the  city  of  Chicago  is  under  for  the 
splendid  work  of  the  Lincoln  Centennial  Memorial  Committee 
of  One  Hundred,  appointed  by  Hon.  Fred  A.  Busse,  Mayor 
of  Chicago,  and  to  give  a  list  of  that  committee,  with  the  offi 
cers  and  its  sub-committees.  The  scope  and  magnitude  of  the 
Chicago  celebration,  the  participation  therein  of  all  classes 
of  citizens,  the  lack  of  friction  in  the  carrying  out  of  the  plans 
of  the  Committee,  the  general  success  and  wide  publicity 
achieved,  were  largely  due  to  the  able  leadership  of  Hon.  Wil 
liam  J.  Calhoun,  the  distinguished  President  of  the  Committee 
of  One  Hundred. 

He  also  wishes  to  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  by  name 
some  of  the  men  who  helped  make  the  week  in  Chicago  a  suc 
cess,  and  regrets  that  this  acknowledgment  will  have  to  be 
confined  to  those  connected  with  the  official  celebrations,  as 
to  attempt  to  name  the  hundreds  of  speakers  and  organiza 
tions,  or  the  thousands  of  earnest  and  effective  committeemen, 
who  helped  to  make  the  general  celebration  memorable  in  the 
history  of  the  city  would  take  a  volume  in  itself. 

THE  LINCOLN  CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL  COMMIT 
TEE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  was  appointed  by  the  Mayor  of 
Chicago,  under  the  following  resolution  introduced  in  the 
Chicago  City  Council  by  Alderman  Albert  J.  Fisher  on  March 
16,  1908,  and  unanimously  adopted : 

WHEREAS,  The  memory  and  public  acts  of  Pres 
ident  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois  have  become  the 
priceless  heritage  of  the  people,  irrespective  of,  and 
above  all  party  lines  and  affiliations ;  and 
539 


540  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

WHEREAS,  Movements  are  in  progress  through 
out  this  State  to  fittingly  recognize  and  commemorate 
the  centennial  year  of  his  nativity,  1909 ;  and 

WHEREAS,  It  is  only  proper  that  this  metropolis 
in  which  Lincoln  received  his  nomination  for  the 
high  office  of  President,  should  bear  its  full  part  in 
such  proposed  memorial;  therefore 

RESOLVED,  That  His  Honor,  the  Mayor,  do  ap 
point  a  Lincoln  Memorial  Commission,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  cooperate  with  other  like  committees 
throughout  the  State  to  the  end  that  this  city  govern 
ment  shall  be  properly  represented  in  such  memorial 
proceedings,  and  shall  contribute  to  their  promotion 
its  proper  share  of  assistance  and  encouragement. 
This  Committee,  originally  a  committee  of  one  hundred,  by 
the  additions  to  its  various  constituent  committees  was  con 
siderably  augmented  in  numbers.     It  was  organized  as  fol 
lows: 

OFFICERS 

PRESIDENT Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun 

FIRST  VICE-PRESIDENT Aid.  Albert  J.  Fisher 

SECOND  VICE-PRESIDENT Charles  R.  Crane 

THIRD  VICE-PRESIDENT George  W.  Perkins 

SECRETARY Nathan  William  MacChesnei/ 

TREASURER Leroy  A.  Goddard 

CHAIRMEN  OF  SUB  -  COMMITTEES 

EXECUTIVE William  J.  Calhoun 

SPEAKERS,  HALLS  AND  SCHOOLS  ....  Edgar  A.  Bancroft 
MILITARY  PARTICIPATION  ....  Col.  Joseph  Rosenbaum 
PUBLICITY,  T.  Edward  Wilder,  Joseph  Bosch,  Shailer  Mathews 
Music,  ART,  AND  DECORATIONS  .  .  .  Alexander  H.  Revell 
CHURCH  AND  INSTITUTIONAL 

OBSERVANCE Judge  C.  C.  Kohlsaat 

RECEPTION  AND  ENTERTAINMENT    .      .      William  J.  Calhoun 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


541 


FINANCE Arthur  Meeker 

PERMANENT  MEMORIAL     .     .       Nathan  William  MacChesney 
CONFERENCE  AND  UNIFICATION  OF 

CELEBRATION  Frank  Hamlin 


COMMITTEE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED 


Anderson,  Bishop  C.  P. 
Bigelow,  Edward  A. 
Boyden,  William  C. 
Baker,  Charles  A. 
Bancroft,  Edgar  A. 
Brundage,  Edward  J. 
Burch,  William  A. 
Brentano,  Judge  Theodore 
Cheney,  Bishop  Charles  Ed 
ward 

Culver,  Dr.  Forest  E. 
CaUaghan,  Rev.  J.  P. 
Crane,  Charles  R. 
Calhoun,  William  J. 
Clarke,  Arthur  L. 
Cigrand,  Dr.  B.  J. 
Dunn,  Aid.  Winfield  P. 
Eckhart,  Bernard  A. 
Earle,  Dr.  Frank  B. 
Everest,  Col.  J.  G. 
Eastman,  John  C. 
Eaton,  Marquis 
Fallows,  Bishop  Samuel 
Fisher,  Aid.  Albert  J. 
Follansbee,  Mitchell  D. 
Finn,  Aid.  Nicholas  R. 
Farr,  Marvin  A. 
Forgan,  David  R. 
Favill,  Dr.  Henry  B. 
Faye,  Charles  M. 
Furey,  Charles  H. 


Foreman,  Col.  Milton  J. 
Glessner,  J.  J. 
Gregory,  S.  S. 
Glogauer,  Fritz 
Goddard,  Leroy  A. 
Grant,  Gen.  Frederick  D. 
Gunsaulus,  Rev.  F.  W. 
Heckman,  Wallace 
Hamlin,  Frank 
Hanberg,  John  J. 
Hinman,  George  W. 
Hall,  Richard  C. 
Hirsch,  Rabbi  Emil  G. 
Hutchinson,  Charles  L. 
Harris,  Abram  W. 
Judson,  Harry  Pratt 
Jones,  Frank  H. 
Jones,  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd 
Keep,  Chauncy 
Kohlsaat,  Judge  C.  C. 
Kohlsaat,  H.  H. 
Kelly,  John  T. 
Kelly,  Rev.  Edward  A. 
Keeley,  James 
Lathrop,  Bryan 
Lagorio,  Dr.  A. 
Lawrence  Andrew 
MacChesney,    Nathan    Wil 
liam 

McCormick,  Robert  R. 
McCormick,  Harold  F. 


542 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


McCormick,  Medill 
McClurg,  Ogden  T. 
MacVeagh,  Eames 
Mack,  Judge  Julian  W. 
Mitchell,  John  J. 
Mullaney,  B.  J. 
Murphy,  Dr.  John  B. 
McNally,  James 
Meeker,  Arthur 
McFatrich,  Dr.  J.  B. 
Morris,  Ira  N. 
Muldoon,  Bishop  P.  J. 
Michaelis,  W.  R. 
Masters,  Edgar  Lee 
Mills,  S.  B. 
Metz,  John 
Noyes,  Frank  B. 
O'Keefe,  P.  J. 
Olson,  Chief  Justice  Harry 
Purdy,  Capt.  W.  F. 
Perkins,  George  W. 
Quigley,  Archbishop  James  E. 
Koth,  John  C. 
Revell,  Alexander  H. 
Reynolds,  George  M. 
Roberts,  George 


Roberts,  E.  L. 
Reilly,  Leigh 
Rosenbaum,  Col.  Joseph 
Rosenwald,  Julius 
Simmons,  Francis  T. 
Sunny,  B.  E. 
Snow,  Aid.  B.  W. 
Sprague,  Albert  A.,  II. 
Sullivan,  Roger  C. 
Simpson,  James 
Shedd,  John  G. 
Sutherland,  George 
Shaffer,  J.  C. 
Schneider,  Otto  C. 
Thompson,  Capt.  S.  B. 
Tenney,  Horace  Kent 
Taylor,  Aid.  Francis  W. 
Tolman,  Maj.  Edgar  Bronson 
Upham,  Fred  W. 
"Wacker,  Charles  H. 
Wilson,  John  P. 
Walker,  Francis  W. 
Wilder  T.  Edward 
Young,  Gen.  E.  C. 
Zimmer,  Aid.  Michael 


The  following  named  gentlemen,  after  the  organization  of 
the  Committee  under  the  authority  given  to  it  by  the  Mayor, 
were  added  to  the  original  Committee  of  One  Hundred: 


Arnold,  Lt.  William 
Anderson,  John 
Barber,  Maj.  Frank  W. 
Brown,  Frederick  A. 
Basch,  Joseph 
Brand,  Horace  L. 
Browning,  Granville  W. 
Burry,  George 


Burley,  Clarence  A. 
Chenowith,  Maj.  W.  H. 
Cassidy,  Maj.  Harry  C. 
Chamberlain,  Capt.  Henry  B. 
Carey,  Rev.  A.  J. 
Cooley,  Harlan  W. 
Crossley,  Frederick  B. 
Dietrich,  Col.  Henry  A. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


543 


Dixon,  George  W. 
Deranek,  Charles 
De  Blois,  Rev.  Austin  K. 
Foster,  Gen.  D.  Jack. 
Fisher,  George  P.,  Jr. 
Freund,  Ernst 
Garrity,  Col.  John  J. 
Greene,  Col.  Lewis  D. 
Ginzburg,  M.  P. 
Greztad,  N. 
Holt,  Charles  S. 
Hart,  Louis  E. 
Holland,  John  F. 
Kline,  Col.  Julius  R. 
Knapp,  Kemper  K. 
Moriarty,  Col.  Daniel 
Marshall,  Col.  John  R. 
Mathews,  Shailer 
McCalla,  Capt.  Lee  A. 
McDowell,  Bishop  W.  F. 
Milburn,  Rev.  Joseph  A. 
Merbitz,  Rev.  F.  P. 
Montgomery,  John  R. 
Marston,  Thomas  B. 
Moore,  Nathan  G. 
Musgrave,  Harrison 
Morse,  Charles  F. 


Matz,  Rudolph 
Norcross,  Frederick  F. 
Oakley,  Horace  S. 
Phillips,  Lt.  E.  O. 
Parker,  Hon.  Francis  W. 
Robeson,  Lt.  Col.  T.  Jay 
Rogers,  Edward  S. 
Rumsey,  George  D. 
Smith,  Henry  A. 
Sanborn,  Col.  Joseph  B. 
Strong,    Col.    Gordon 

Strong 

Szwajkart,  Stanislus 
Stevens,  Charles  A. 
Shaw,  Rev.  John  Balcom 
Sellers,  Frank  H. 
Sidley,  William  P. 
Tenney,  Horace  K. 
Thompson,  Col.  John  R. 
Vance,  Rev.  Joseph  A. 
Wood,  John  H. 
Willard,  Norman  P. 
Waldo,  Otis  H. 
Wheeler,  Arthur  D. 
Wigmore,  John  H. 
Woolman,  Lt.  Maurice 
Zane,  John  M. 


In  addition  to  the  general  Committee  there  were  a  large 
number  of  citizens  who  served  on  various  sub-committees,  es 
pecially  in  connection  with  the  splendid  work  of  the  Finance 
Committee  under  the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  Arthur  Meeker. 
Among  those  who  served  on  these  sub-committees  were: 


Allen,  W.  D. 
Allen,  Benjamin  C. 
Bunnell,  John  A. 
Brown,  M.  L. 
Buswell,  H.  G. 


Chester,  H.  W. 
Crane,  R.  T.,  Jr. 
Childs,  C.  Fred 
Dixon,  Thomas  J. 
Dickinson,  William 


544  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Fuller,  Frank  Lytton,  George,  Jr. 

Hill,  C.  H.  Miller,  John  S. 

Hahn,  H.  F.  Phillips,  W.  E. 

Ingwersen,  Emil  Peacock,  C.  D.,  Jr. 

Kesner,  J.  L.  Schweppe,  Charles 

Kline,  Samuel  J.  Tighe,  Bryan,  G. 

KimbaU,  C.  N.  Wiehe,  C.  F. 

Karpen,  Adolph  Young,  H.  W. 
Leahy,  Harold  F. 

Aside  from  the  members  of  the  committees  throughout  the 
city,  who  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  celebration,  the 
editor  desires  to  thank  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  those  who 
assisted  it  at  the  various  official  celebrations.  Among  these 
were: 

AT  THE  AUDITORIUM  MEETING 

Frederick  A.  Brown,  Esq.,  Committeeman-in-charge ;  Carl  D. 
Kinsey,  General  Musical  Director ;  William  Ap  Madoc,  Direc 
tor  of  the  Chorus;  the  three  hundred  Chicago  High  School 
pupils  who  formed  the  splendid  Chorus;  Wilhelm  Middel- 
schulte,  the  Organist ;  Rev.  Maurice  J.  Dorney,  who  asked  the 
Invocation ;  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Vance,  D.  D.,  who  offered  the  clos 
ing  Prayer. 

AT  THE  SEVENTH  REGIMENT,  ILL.  N.  G.,  ARMORY 

Rev.  Charles  Baird  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  who  asked  the  Invoca 
tion  and  pronounced  the  Benediction;  Col.  Daniel  Mori- 
arty,  Commanding  the  Seventh  Infantry,  which  gave  the  use 
of  its  Armory,  both  for  the  afternoon  meeting  and  the  meeting 
in  the  evening  for  the  colored  citizens;  Lieut.  George  B. 
Reed ;  Mr.  John  Ryan  of  the  Seventh  Infantry ;  The  Seventh 
Infantry  Band,  Paul  Smith,  Director;  The  Irish  Choral  So 
ciety  under  the  leadership  of  Professor  Taylor  Drill. 

AT  THE  SECOND  REGIMENT,  ILL.  N.  G.,  ARMORY 

Harlan  W.  Cooley,  Esq.,  Committeeman-in-charge;  Col. 
John  J.  Garrity,  Commanding  the  Second  Infantry,  which  ten- 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  545 

dered  the  use  of  its  Armory  to  the  Committee  and  which 
assisted  it  in  every  way;  Rev.  Austin  K.  De  Blois,  who  pro 
nounced  the  Invocation;  The  Second  Infantry  Band,  Paul 
Goepfert,  Director;  Madame  Anita  Patti  Brown,  the  colored 
singer;  The  Virginia  Quartette;  Rev.  Thomas  V.  Shannon, 
who  pronounced  the  Benediction. 

AT  THE  BATTERY  B,  ILL.  N.  G.,  ARMORY 

Eames  MacVeagh,  Esq.,  Committeeman-in-charge ;  Col.  Mil 
ton  J.  Foreman  of  the  First  Cavalry,  who  acted  as  Chair 
man  pro  tern.;  Maj.  Joseph  C.  Wilson  of  the  First  Cavalry; 
Lt.  Maurice  Woolman  of  Battery  B;  Rev.  Father  Basil  A. 
Didier;  Miss  Genevieve  De  Forrest,  Soloist;  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Hay,  Soloist;  First  Cavalry,  111.  N.  G.  Band,  A.  Fisher,  Di 
rector;  The  Colored  Jubilee  Singers;  Rev.  Fred  V.  Hawley, 
who  pronounced  the  Benediction. 

AT  THE  MEETING  OF  THE  EIGHTH  INFANTRY  (COLORED),  AND 

THE  COLORED  CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE,  AT  THE  SEVENTH 

REGIMENT,  ILL.  N.  G.,  ARMORY 

Hon.  George  W.  Dixon,  Committeeman-in-charge ;  Col.  John 
R.  Marshall,  Commanding  the  Eighth  Infantry;  Pedro  T. 
Tinsley,  Director  of  the  Choral  Study  Club ;  The  Choral  Study 
Club;  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Cheney,  DD.,  S.T.D.,  who 
gave  the  opening  Prayer;  J.  Gray  Lucus,  Esq. ;  E.  P.  McCabe, 
Esq. ;  W.  H.  Clark,  Esq. ;  The  Eighth  Regiment  Band,  Wil 
liam  E.  Berry,  Chief  musician;  Rev.  Moses  H.  Jackson,  who 
pronounced  the  Benediction. 

AT  THE  DEXTER  PARK  PAVILION 

E.  L.  Roberts,  P.  J.  O'Keefe,  Geo.  W.  Perkins,  Committee- 
in-charge;  Arthur  Meeker,  Chairman;  John  A.  Spoor  of  the 
International  Live  Stock  Exposition  Company,  for  the  use  of 
the  Amphitheater;  Rt.  Rev.  Paul  C.  Rhode,  who  gave  a  short 
address  and  the  Invocation;  five  hundred  members  of  the 
Chorus  from  the  singing  societies  and  church  choirs  of  the 
city ;  Clarence  Dickinson,  Director  of  the  Chorus ;  The  Apollo 


546  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Quartette ;  Madame  Ragna  Linne,  Miss  Jennie  F.  W.  Johnson, 
Edward  C.  Towne,  William  Wade  Hinshaw,  Katherine  How 
ard,  Soloists;  First  Regiment  Band,  J.  F.  Hostrawser,  Direc 
tor;  Miss  Imogen  S.  Pierce,  to  whose  initiative  and  untiring 
efforts  the  success  of  the  meeting  was  largely  due ;  Rev.  W.  H. 
Head,  D.D.,  who  pronounced  the  Benediction. 

IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  OUTDOOR  CELEBRATION 

Captain  W.  G.  Purdy,  commanding  the  Illinois  Naval  Re 
serve,  and  the  officers  and  men  of  that  organization,  which 
gave  an  impressive  street  parade  on  the  Centenary  Day,  end 
ing  with  the  firing  of  the  national  salute  of  twenty-one  guns, 
before  the  statue  of  Lincoln,  at  the  south  end  of  Lincoln  Park. 

The  Committee  and  the  community  are  under  obligation, 
also,  to  Professor  Shailer  Mathews  for  his  enthusiasm  and 
broad  vision  in  connection  with  the  possibilities  of  the  celebra 
tion.  To  his  efforts  is  due  the  splendid  educational  character 
of  the  commemoration. 

The  editor  also  wishes  to  take  this  occasion  to  thank  Mr. 
William  Marshall  Ellis,  who  assisted  him  as  Secretary  of  the 
general  Committee  and  whose  constant  attention  to  the  many 
demands  upon  the  office  of  the  general  Committee,  and  ready 
and  willing  effort  to  cooperate  with  everyone  for  the  success 
of  the  movement,  was  a  large  factor  in  directing,  unifying  and 
making  successful  the  hundreds  of  celebrations  in  the  City  of 
Chicago. 

The  Committee  also  expresses  appreciation  to  the  McCor- 
mick  Estates  and  to  Mr.  John  A.  Chapman  for  the  use  of 
offices  for  the  general  Committee,  without  compensation;  to 
the  Northwestern  University  Law  School,  its  Dean,  John  H. 
Wigmore,  and  its  Secretary,  Frederick  B.  Crossley,  for  the  use 
of  Northwestern  University  Law  School  rooms  for  scores  of 
meetings  of  the  Committee;  to  the  Chicago  Telephone  Com 
pany  for  the  telephone  service  furnished  without  charge;  to 
the  Chicago  newspapers,  both  daily  and  weekly,  English  and 
foreign,  which  without  exception  gave  their  hearty  coopera- 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  547 

tion  to  the  work  of  the  Committee ;  and  to  the  many  others  who 
but  for  lack  of  space  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection. 
Undoubtedly,  in  the  pressure  of  the  preparation  of  this  vol 
ume  for  the  press,  and  in  the  handling  of  enormous  masses 
of  correspondence  and  data,  there  have  occurred  various  omis 
sions  of  well-earned  acknowledgment,  and  even  errors  of  nar 
ration.  For  all  such,  the  editor  asks  indulgence,  expressing 
here  his  regret  therefor,  and  his  appreciation  of  the  unselfish 
and  untiring  services  of  all  who  were  connected  in  any  way 
with  America 's  unprecedented  celebration  of  the  Lincoln  Cen 
tenary. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abolitionists,    174,   289,    290,   305, 

396 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  minister 

to  England  during  Civil  War, 

420-424 
Anti-slavery   days,    326,   327,   392, 

393 

B 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  121,  122 

British  Government  and  United 
States,  their  relations  during 
Civil  War  period,  41,  42,  50- 
53,  210,  222,  223,  303,  305, 
331,  420-423,  425,  514 

Brown,  Hon.  George,  founder  and 
editor  of  The  Toronto  Globe, 
46,  47,  49,  50,  52 

Brown,  John,  45. 


C 


Canada,  Lincoln's  significance  to, 
and  political  situation  in,  35, 
42-44,  46,  47,  49,  50;  slavery 
in,  44,  46;  refuge  for  fugitive 
slaves,  44,  45;  Southerners 
and  their  sympathizers  go  to, 
at  outbreak  of  war,  47,  48; 
attitude  of,  during  Civil  War, 
47,  48 

Canadians  in  Union  Army,  48,  49 

Carr,  Col.  Clark  E.,  65 

Cautious  men,  20 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  302,  303,  419, 
503,  504 


Civil  War,  closed,  12;  causes 
which  made  inevitable,  33; 
had  its  counterpart  in  Can 
ada,  43;  attitude  of  Canada 
during,  47,  48;  Lincoln  and 
Grant  during,  144-147;  out 
break  of,  302,  329,  330,  348, 
446,  452;  conduct  of,  304, 
331;  cost  of,  306;  a  "peo 
ple's  war,"  450;  attitude  of 
England  toward,  see  British 
Government  and  United 
States,  their  relations  during 
Civil  War  period;  attitude  of 
Italy  toward,  533 

Congress,  Lincoln's  relations  with, 
500,  501,  504,  505;  in  recon 
struction  period,  502,  503 

Conversation,  the  business  of  life, 
19 

"  Cotton,  King,"  as  determining 
agent  in  war,  51,  52,  286,  287, 
514 


Darwin,  Charles,  as  great  contem 
porary  of,  and  compared  with, 
Lincoln,  15,  16,  78,  310,  410- 
412 

Davis,  David,  69,  162,  208 
Davis,  Jefferson,  38,  48,  262 
Democracy  in  North  America,  35, 

37-43,  46,  47,  53,  54 
Democratic  party,  69,  141,  142 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  117,  121,  122, 
162,   288,  324,   378,  393,  394, 
398,  409;  see  also  under  Lin 
coln,  debates  with  Douglas 


551 


552 


INDEX 


Dred  Scott  decision,  120,  140,  288, 

324,  367 
Drummond,  Thomas,  162,  227 


Hay,  John,  243,  447 


E 


"Egypt"  (Southern  Illinois),  402, 
403 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  44, 
49,  55,  62,  91,  126,  223,  224, 
237,  290,  295,  306,  331,  332, 
369,  453-456,  474,  487,  525 

England,  see  under  British  Govern 
ment 

Everett,  Hon.  Edward,  orator  at 
Gettysburg  dedication,  65, 
136,  137,  369 


France,  career  of  Lincoln  followed 
in,  191,  192,  194 

Freedom  and  slavery,  conflict  be 
tween,  39,  40,  53,  54,  173,  234 

Freeport  debate,  140-142,  210,  402; 
see  also  under  Lincoln,  de 
bates  with  Douglas 

Fugitive  Slave  Act,  44-46 

Fugitive  slaves,  44,  45 

G 

Garibaldi  compared  with  Lincoln, 
116;  offered  command  in 
Northern  army,  534 

Gettysburg  address,  see  under  Lin 
coln 

Gladstone,  William  E.,  great  con 
temporary  of  Lincoln,  15,  16, 
368 

Golden  Rule  in  diplomacy,  243, 
244,  246 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  143-147,  269, 
270,  304,  330 

Greeley,  Horace,  62,  69,  70,  72, 
122,  290,  303,  304,  348,  448 


Illinois  fittingly  gives  tribute  to 
Lincoln,  33,  76,  84;  legal 
practice  and  courts  in,  dur 
ing  Lincoln's  life,  154-164, 
201,  203-209,  211,  225-227, 
268;  the  State  between  1837 
and  1861,  160;  in  Lincoln's 
boyhood,  389 


Jackson,  "Stonewall,"  33 
Japanese    relations    with    United 
States,  244-246 

K 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  231 
King    of    .Rome    contrasted    with 
Lincoln,  113,  114 


Labor   question,    slavery   a   phase 

of  the,  276,  290-293 
Leader  of  a  nation,  essentials  of, 

24-27 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  33,  437 
Lincoln,  Abraham  — 
family  of,  319,  410,  483 
belonged  by  birth  to  South,  59, 

73,  134,  176,  264,  497 
youth  of,  16,  17,  19,  59-61,  73, 
114,  131-134,  154,  175,  178, 
179,  192,  195,  256,  261,  267, 
268,  294-298,  319-321,  343, 
362-364,  376,  389,  390 
self-trained,  and  investigating 
for  himself,  59,  61,  63,  131- 
134,  138,  160,  176,  178,  193, 
296-298,  320,  321,  363,  364, 
377 


INDEX 


553 


education,    see   self-trained,   etc. 
personal  appearance,  22,  70,  71, 

277,  309,  318,  517 
story   of    his    life    familiar,    14, 

34,   154,  280,  343 
language  used  by,  59,  64,  66,  67, 

120,   121,   138,   278,  297,  335, 

336,     420-422;     see    also    as 

orator 
stories  told  concerning,  19,  116, 

120,  300,  307,  308,  339,  404, 

487,  525 
wit   and   humor   of,   20,   21,   81, 

172,   173,   188,  299,  307,  308, 

335,   486 
story-telling     characteristic     of, 

21,  80,  307,  394 
characteristics  of,  18-32,  34,  36, 

54,  55,  61-64,  68,  71-73,  114- 
122,  138,  159-162,  172,  173, 
176-178,  193,  201,  202,  211, 
220,  242,  255-260,  263-266, 
282-285,  298-304,  306-310, 
318,  321,  329,  330,  334-342, 
356,  364-369,  376-381,  394, 
395,  451,  453,  456,  457,  462- 
467,  474-478,  486-488,  490, 
500,  501,  503,  504,  513,  514, 
517,  524,  525 
of  frontierman  and  pioneer  type, 

22,  23,  60-64,  66,  319,  389 
patent  taken  out  by,  61 

his  belief  in  dreams,  74,  486 
religion    of,    81,    125-127,    282, 

283,  336,  369 
an  optimist,  31 

isolation  of,  16,  54,  55,  178,  179 
prophetic    imagination    of,    257, 

486 

conversation  important  to,  19 
an  all-round  man  —  a  "  man  of 
the  people " —  not  represent 
ing  a  class  or  profession,  23- 
27,  36,  62,  63,  101,  138,  176, 
490 


admission  to  the  bar  and  law 
practice,  154-165,  171,  201, 
203-209,  211,  225-227,  268, 
296—300,  322,  323,  378 

in  State  legislature,  154,  159, 
165,  166,  175,  204-207,  300, 
321,  322,  325,  377,  378,  447 

speeches  (other  than  debates 
and  Cooper  Institute  speech), 
Bloomington,  1856  and  1858, 
225,  228,  232-238,  395-397; 
Springfield,  1858,  234 

"lost  speech,"  238,  396 

senatorial  campaign  of  1858,  36, 
141,  186,  285,  325,  327,  397- 
399,  408,  443 

debates  with  Douglas,  83,  120, 
135,  140-142,  171,  176,  177, 
185-188,  210,  234,  268,  285, 
301,  302,  325,  327,  336,  339, 
368,  378,  391,  393-395,  399- 

407,  443,  497 

Cooper  Institute  speech,  135,  136, 
171,  176,  177,  234,  277,  278, 
281,  285,  286,  328,  336,  337, 

408,  443 

nomination  and  presidential  cam 
paign,  68-70,  177,  185,  191, 
236,  277,  281,  295,  302,  328, 
444 

as  President,  37,  38,  171,  172, 
210,  302,  303,  307,  309,  329, 
378,  381,  445-448,  451,  452 

abused  and  lampooned,  11,  62, 
68,  70,  71,  123,  124,  258,  347, 
348,  355,  366-368,  375,  370, 
380,  452,  497 

First  Inaugural  Address,  39,  121, 
127,  139,  152,  163,  168,  192, 
221,  255,  264,  337,  445,  481, 
496 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  59, 
149,  218,  268,  269,  297,  321, 
337,  369 

Gettysburg  address,  57,  59,  64- 


554 


INDEX 


66,  136-138,  165-170,  188,  268, 

297,  310,  368,  369,  498 
as  orator,  185-189,  268,  301,  368 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  see 

under  Emancipation 
Cabinet,  relations  with,  122,  268, 

302-304,      419-422,      424-428, 

446,   447,   449,   450,   486,    503 
Congress,    relations    with,    500, 

501,   504,   505 

his  calls  for  men,  39,  294,  446 
his  personal  conduct  of  the  war, 

304,  307,  447,  453 

his  determination  to  save  the 
Union,  12,  39,  124,  144,  221, 

305,  348,   351,  352,   355,  356, 
446,  448,  449 

as  diplomat,  41,  42,  242,  243, 
246;  see  also  British  Govern 
ment  and  United  States, 
their  relations  during  Civil 
War  period 

his  significance  to  democracy, 
35-44,  46,  47,  50,  53,  54 

the  world-citizen,  34,  53,  54 

how  regarded  by  the  South,  33, 
148-152 

relations  with  U.  S.  Grant,  143- 
147;  see  also  Grant,  U.  S. 

autobiography   of,   231 

and  the  negroes,  332-334,  338 

statesmanship  of,  82-84,  118, 
119,  223 

greatness  of,  33,  34,  99,  172- 
174,  207,  341,  342,  347,  462, 
477,  478,  485,  490 

death  of,  34,  35,  142,  150,  152, 
194,  221,  265,  266,  269,  279, 
310,  340,  370,  428,  429 

his  remains  lie  in  state,  58,  310 
reaction  of  feeling  occasioned 
by  his  death,  11,  68,  310,  334, 
347 

duration  of  public  career,  171 
uncompleted  life  of,  18,  221,  222 


lessons  to  be  learned  from,  56- 
58,  128,  129,  172,  224,  258, 
344,  370,  371,  376,  387,  388, 
413 

inspired  words  true  of,  370 
quotations  from,  36,  57,  74,  115, 
118, 125-127,  146,  147, 149, 152, 
163,  166-168,  170,  173,  202, 
231,  233,  234,  255,  264,  269, 
283-291,  293,  300,  301,  321, 
324,  348-350,  356,  381,  397, 
398,  403-408,  444,  448,  449, 
454,  455,  496 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  Lincoln's  estimate 
of,  503 


M 


Marshall,    Chief   Justice,    165-170 

McCormick,  Cyrus,  85,  209,  424 

Mexican  War,  301,  405 

Missouri  Compromise  and  its  re 
peal,  46,  140,  163,  219,  229, 
230,  237,  287,  288,  302 

Monuments  to  soldiers,  151;  to 
great  men,  271,  272 

Myths,  345 


N 


Napoleon  compared  with  Wash 
ington  and  Lincoln,  472,  473 

Negro,  problem  of  the,  92-98,  104- 
112;  cause  of  Civil  War,  104, 
106 

Negro  soldiers  in  war,  111,  331 

Negroes  and  Lincoln,  332-334,  338 

New  York,  impossible  to  conceive 
of  Lincoln  as  having  been 
born  in,  23 

Nineteenth  century,  significant 
events  of,  14,  15,  174,  217, 
218,  364 

North,  the,  honors  Southern  lead 
ers,  33 


INDEX 


555 


Ordinance  of  1787,  228,  229,  237 


Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  as  great  con 
temporary  of  Lincoln,  15,  16, 
310 

"Popular  sovereignty,"  230,  231, 
288,  302 


Reconstruction     period,     73,     266, 

337-339 

Republican  party,  platform  of,  300 
Revolution,  causes  which  made  in 
evitable,  33;  furnished  an  ar 
guable  case  for  secession,  38 
Riches,  encumbrance  of,  20 
Rodin's    statues    likened    to    Lin 
coln,  17 

S 

Saint-Gaudens*  statues  of  Lincoln, 

179 

Schurz,  Carl,  123,  349 
Scott,  Lieut.-Gen.  (by  brevet),  144 
Secession,    37,    38,    210,   262,    263, 

329,  347,  352,  437 
Seward,  William  H.,  Secretary  of 

State,  42,  69,  70,  72,  142,  193, 

223,   234,   243,   302,  303,   331, 

419-422,  450 
Slavery,    36,    38-40,    44,    83,    140, 

175,  186,  233,  263,  264,  286- 

290,   295,   301,   302,   305,   306, 

323,  324,  396,  447,  448,  494- 

496 
Slaves,    proposition    to    buy,    73, 

306,   307 

Soldiers,  surviving,  267 
South,    the,    honors    Lincoln,    33, 

148,    150-152,    266,    337,    495, 


499;  Lincoln  belonged  by 
birth  to,  59,  73,  134,  176,  264, 
497 ;  relation  to  Union  after 
war,  74,  150 

Southerners,  writings  of,  their  in 
fluence  upon  Lincoln,  135 

"  Squatter   sovereignty,"   288,    324 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  209,  419,  424- 
429,  449,  489 

State  rights,  352-355 

State  sovereignty,  38,  165 

Studiousness,  the  quality  of,  21 

Sumner,  Charles,  339 

Swett,  Leonard,  162,  163 


Tennyson,  Alfred,  as  great  con 
temporary  of  Lincoln,  15,  55, 
56 

Theories,  21 

Trent  affair,  see  British  Govern 
ment  and  United  States,  their 
relations  during  Civil  War 
period 

U 

"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  influence  of, 

46,  326 
"  Underground  Railroad,"  45 


W 


Washington,  Booker  T.,   108 

Washington,  George,  contrasted 
with  Lincoln,  36,  67,  68,  190, 
221,  257,  269,  270,  279,  341, 
346,  347,  356,  364,  365,  437, 
472,  473,  527-531;  held  title 
of  Lieut.-Gen.,  144 

West,  the,  as  factor  in  destiny  of 
nation,  85,  86,  175,  176 

Whitman,  Walt,  74;  his  lines, 
"O  Captain!  My  Captain!  " 
quoted,  75 


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